Search

Pregnancy outcome is a powerful indicator of the health status of its women and the quality of health care available to the community. A two-way relationship between women's health and pregnancy outcome exists and high rates of foetal and early infant mortality are well known. The use of opium for medicinal or recreational purposes has a long history in many parts of the world and thus continues to be common. Infants born to mothers who use opiates do have impaired growth, smaller head size, and significant neuro-behavioral dysfunction due to withdrawal. This paper reports the adverse pregnancy outcome and its predictors, particularly the opium addiction among 234 married Wancho tribe of the Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh, India. Data were collected from women through a pretested questionnaire. Data reveal that a high rate of stillbirths (4.91 percent) and spontaneous abortion (6.06 percent) among addicts than the non-addicts. Pregnancy wastage is not only unwanted in itself but also has an adverse impact on women's health and hence public health intervention is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The evaluation of wastage of blood products represents an important element in the appropriate use of blood components, a critical control point in the system of blood administration. Discarding or wastage of blood can be attributed to several reasons namely time expiry, wasted import, non-usage of ordered blood, broken bags and seal with leakage, hemolytic reasons, clotted blood, returned after 30 min, and miscellaneous others. Wasting of blood and blood components are an inefficient use of resources and may be avoided. The present study was undertaken with aim of primarily to determine the frequency of blood products wasting and secondarily to determine the factors that affect blood products wastage at our institute. Methods: The present study is a retrospective cross sectional descriptive study conducted in a tertiary teaching hospital located in South Delhi catering to low socioeconomic population. Blood component wastage was defined as components that did not meet the required standards of hospitals or fractionation centres during collection, processing and storage. The main reasons included expiry date, inappropriate volume, haemolysis of red blood cells (RBCs), contamination of plasma or platelets with RBCs, blood bag leakage, reactive infectious disease tests and inappropriate temperature during storage or transportation. The required data from clinical units and blood bank were collected and analyzed for a period of 7 years. Results: A total of 13728 blood units were received during the specified period. Overall wasted factor was of 18.5% with maximum wastage of platelet concentrate units (53.7%). Analyzing the causes of blood and blood product wastage in the hospital for this study showed that blood and blood product wastage were associated with many causes of which the common causes, included the expiration of the usability period (69.2%), seroreactivity for infectious diseases (13.7%) and Quality Control units (9.2%). Conclusion: Blood is an irreplaceable precious resource which needs to be properly utilized with minimal wastage. Although present study was limited due to its retrospective nature but it still outlines the importance to emphasize that measures should be taken into account for formulating guidelines, effective policies, and training efforts for personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Drug wastage is a major concern in oncology where costs of antineoplastic drugs are exorbitant, and the disposal of toxic drugs increases the chances of occupational hazards to healthcare and sanitary workers and environmental pollution at the site of disposal. The principal objective of this study was to ascertain the extent of drug wastage and calculate its financial costs.Materials and Methods: This was a prospective pilot study conducted to ascertain the quantity of drug wastage in a tertiary care hospital. This pilot study was conducted in day care and inpatient facilities in February 2016. The prescription of cytotoxic drugs, recommended dose, the quantity used, and remainder (waste) left were recorded from the nurses and pharmacy files of the hospital. Cost evaluation of the actual use and the waste was undertaken and an audit was conducted to understand in which anticancer drug the maximum wastage was generated.Results: The results of this study indicated that 6.1% of the total amount of reconstituted drugs was wasted. The highest drug wastage was observed in trastuzumab (29.55%), followed by etoposide (20.4%), dacarbazine (17.14%), daunorubicin (16.67%), and carboplatin (11.29%). Cost analysis showed that the total cost of the drug issued during the study period was Rs. 1,294,975 and the cost of drug wastage amounted to Rs. 143,820 (11.1%).Conclusion: To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first study from India and the results indicate that the financial impact of anticancer drug wastage was substantial. Attempts should be directed at minimizing the wastage and cost savings without risking patients' treatment regimen and administering effective dose schedule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Blood Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. One may need a blood transfusion due to several reasons including blood lost during major surgery, childbirth, a severe accident and in severe cases of anemia. Since there is no substitute for blood and its products blood should be utilized thoughtfully and optimum utilization should be ensured. Methods: A retrospective study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital for a period of one month to study the utilization of the blood. The parameters studied included detailed study of the components of blood utilized and not utilized. Classification of blood components utilized was done age-wise, gender-wise and department-wise. Also, percentage of discard of blood components from blood bank as well from the components being returned was noted. Results: The total units of blood collected in the month of February & March were 853 and 791 units respectively. The components maximally utilized were leucocytes reduced red cell component. The component, which showed maximum wastage, was Random donor platelet. Maximum blood was utilized within the age group 41-64. Male patients required more of blood units than females. The reason for maximum wastage was found to be "Expired Sample". The maximum return seen was of red blood cells. The average time taken for return was 113 minutes. Conclusion: This study implies the need for efficient blood banking so that blood components can be utilized resourcefully and minimal wastage can be ensured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Drug wastage is a major concern in oncology where costs of antineoplastic drugs are exorbitant, and the disposal of toxic drugs increases the chances of occupational hazards to healthcare and sanitary workers and environmental pollution at the site of disposal. The principal objective of this study was to ascertain the extent of drug wastage and calculate its financial costs., Materials and Methods: This was a prospective pilot study conducted to ascertain the quantity of drug wastage in a tertiary care hospital. This pilot study was conducted in day care and inpatient facilities in February 2016. The prescription of cytotoxic drugs, recommended dose, the quantity used, and remainder (waste) left were recorded from the nurses and pharmacy files of the hospital. Cost evaluation of the actual use and the waste was undertaken and an audit was conducted to understand in which anticancer drug the maximum wastage was generated., Results: The results of this study indicated that 6.1% of the total amount of reconstituted drugs was wasted. The highest drug wastage was observed in trastuzumab (29.55%), followed by etoposide (20.4%), dacarbazine (17.14%), daunorubicin (16.67%), and carboplatin (11.29%). Cost analysis showed that the total cost of the drug issued during the study period was Rs. 1,294,975 and the cost of drug wastage amounted to Rs. 143,820 (11.1%)., Conclusion: To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first study from India and the results indicate that the financial impact of anticancer drug wastage was substantial. Attempts should be directed at minimizing the wastage and cost savings without risking patients' treatment regimen and administering effective dose schedule., Competing Interests: None