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Background: One of the important factors that could affect better health care delivery during COVID-19 pandemic remains the better working environment for healthcare professionals. Support provided by the family, society and workplace would play an important role to boost their work performance. This study aimed to assess the perception of family, social and organizational support among the frontline healthcare professionals during COVID-19 pandemic in selected districts of Nepal. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study consisted of 325 healthcare professionals working in different hospitals of Bagmati province of Nepal. Data were collected using self-administered structured questionnaire via Google form. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Adequate support was perceived by 50.5% of the respondents and the mean overall perceived support score was 98.83±11.2. The highest perceived score (37.25±4.37) was on family support domain followed by social support (33.55±4.08) and the organizational support (28.01±5.7). Factors like advanced age, higher education level, male sex, and working in the government hospitals showed significant association with perceived family and social support. Type of the institutions and tenure status were main predictors for the perception of adequate organizational support. Conclusions: For their inspiration to work, adequate support to healthcare professionals not only from family but also from the society and organizational level would be quite important. Apart from some non-modifiable factors, other factors like adequate and timely provision of monthly salary, guaranteed medical treatment if they fall sick have been found to play important role to keep the them motivated to their work.

Background: Nurses can play a pivotal role to identify and prevent acute kidney injury (AKI) at the earliest and their level of understanding about the disease remains quite important. So, this study was conducted with an aim of assessing the level of understanding of AKI among nurses. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 122 nursing staffs working at different wards of a tertiary hospital. Knowledge on AKI was evaluated on different headings-definition, risk factors, bed side nursing observations, and supportive care. Semi-structured ques­tionnaire was used to collect the responses through self-administered method. Analysis was done through frequency, percentage median, chi-square test and through odds ratio using Microsoft Excel and SPSS version 16 for windows. Results: A total of 122 nurses were included in the study. Mean age of the respondents was 26.7±5.88 years. Only 43.4% of the respondents could correctly define AKI on the basis of creati­nine value. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and aminoglycosides as nephrotoxic drugs could be listed by 59.8% and 23.7% of the respondents respectively. About 40% of the nurses mentioned the requirement of observation of both intake and output as a part of management of AKI. Overall, 53.3% of the nurses were found to have an inadequate knowledge of AKI. Conclusions: Inadequate knowledge of AKI among nurses can hinder the early recognition and management. Therefore, there seems to be a strong need of formal and structured refreshing course for the nurses to provide current updates on identification, risk assessment, recognition and response of AKI.

Background: Dengue fever is one of the most common tropical diseases caused by an arbo­virus. This virus is a member of genus Flavivirus and flaviviradae family, is transmitted by bite of Aedes aegypti mosquito. Its outbreak is being reported from different parts of the world including Nepal. This disease is prevalent throughout Nepal mostly in terai regions. The aim was to study the epidemiological and clinical spectrum of dengue fever at tertiary care hos­pital in Chitwan. Methods: This study was a hospital based prospective study where a total of 241 patients di­agnosed with dengue fever were assessed. This study was carried out from September 2019 to February 2020. Data was entered on predesigned proforma and analyzed by using SPSS version 16.0. Mean and standard deviations was calculated for continuous variables and frequencies for categorical variables. Results: More than half (56%) of the dengue patients belonged to the age group of 25-44 years. Out of 241 patients, 61.4% were males. Apart from fever the other common symptoms were ret­roorbital pain/headache comprising around 80% of patients. The mean duration of hospital stay in our study was 3.86 days. Approximately 72% (173) patients had leucopenia and 8.7% (21) had severe thrombocytopenia(

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is characterized by pathological invasion of the urinary tract by microorganisms. Majorities of organisms causing UTI are gram negative bacteria, most common of which is E. coli. Urine culture and sensitivity test is used to isolate the organism and to identify the susceptible drug of choice for appropriate treatment. This hospital-based study was carried out to analyze the spectrum and antibiotic susceptibility of microorganisms causing UTI. Methods: A retrospective study was done to analyze the results of urine culture and sensitivity test done at Chitwan Medical College Teaching Hospital over a period of two and half years. Standard guideline and protocol were used to collect the urine sample and to perform the test. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 21.0. Result: Out of 12, 925 urine samples submitted for culture and sensitivity test during the study period, bacterial pathogens were isolated from 3, 173 (24.54%) samples, which was significantly higher among females (28%) than the males (17%). The most common organism isolated on the culture was E. coli (68.5%) followed by Klebsiella (18.4%). Sensitivity of the uropathogens was seen highest with colistin (79.2%) followed by teicoplanin (64.58%), Aztreonam (63.25%) and Ni­trofurantoin (61.16%). Most common antibiotics that showed resistance to the microorganisms in this study were Ampicillin (60.93%), Cotrimoxazole (53.72%), Cefixime (40.57%) and Levofloxacin (32.93%). Conclusions: This study has found a usual pattern of UTI with higher prevalence among females and E. coli being the most common organism. Nitrofurantoin has been found to have a good sus­ceptibility for the treatment of UTI.

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is characterized by pathological invasion of the urinary tract by microorganisms. Majorities of organisms causing UTI are gram negative bacteria, most common of which is E. coli. Urine culture and sensitivity test is used to isolate the organism and to identify the susceptible drug of choice for appropriate treatment. This hospital-based study was carried out to analyze the spectrum and antibiotic susceptibility of microorganisms causing UTI. Methods: A retrospective study was done to analyze the results of urine culture and sensitivity test done at Chitwan Medical College Teaching Hospital over a period of two and half years. Standard guideline and protocol were used to collect the urine sample and to perform the test. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 21.0. Result: Out of 12, 925 urine samples submitted for culture and sensitivity test during the study period, bacterial pathogens were isolated from 3, 173 (24.54%) samples, which was significantly higher among females (28%) than the males (17%). The most common organism isolated on the culture was E. coli (68.5%) followed by Klebsiella (18.4%). Sensitivity of the uropathogens was seen highest with colistin (79.2%) followed by teicoplanin (64.58%), Aztreonam (63.25%) and Ni­trofurantoin (61.16%). Most common antibiotics that showed resistance to the microorganisms in this study were Ampicillin (60.93%), Cotrimoxazole (53.72%), Cefixime (40.57%) and Levofloxacin (32.93%). Conclusions: This study has found a usual pattern of UTI with higher prevalence among females and E. coli being the most common organism. Nitrofurantoin has been found to have a good sus­ceptibility for the treatment of UTI.

Objectives: Vitamin D deficiency is being studied all over the world and is a global health problem. Recent studies haveshown that Vitamin D may have a significant role in reducing the incidence of autoimmune diseases. This study was conducted to find out the level of Vitamin D in patients with thyroid disorders and compare Vitamin D levels in Anti Tpo positive and negative patients. Subject and Methodology: 60 patients from Chitwan Medical College outpatient clinic were included in the study from February to May 2016. A brief history and clinical examinations were taken from all patients along with laboratory tests for thyroid functions, TPO antibody level of 25(OH) Vitamin D3 level and Serum Calcium level. Results: Both patients of hypothyroidism (autoimmune and nonautoimmune) had severe Vitamin D deficiency. Most of the hyperthyroid cases had Vitamin D insufficiency. Anti TPO positive and negative patients both had Vitamin D deficiency. Conclusion: Our study shows there is significant Vitamin D deficiency in hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism irrespective of its autoimmunity. This study certainly encourages us to screen Vitamin D and supplement Vitamin D to all thyroid disorders patients.

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