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Context: The nature of the work in saw mills carries a huge risk as the workers are exposed to various life-threatening hazards. Aims: This study was conducted to know the “Work place Wellbeing” of the saw mill workers, occupational Hazards identification and Risk assessment (HIRA) including hazard communication, occupational accidents, injuries and diseases. Settings and Design: The study was a cross sectional study amongst workers of saw mills. Methods and Material: A total of 219 saw mill workers were interviewed. “Work place wellbeing”, was studied by using the “Workplace Wellbeing Questionnaire - Black Dog Institute” which includes four areas of workplace wellbeing viz. (1) Work satisfaction, (2) Organizational respect for the employee, (3) Employer care, and (4) Intrusion of work into private life. Reliability analysis was done and Cronbach's alpha was found. Association was found between the work place wellbeing and other demographic and occupational variables. Statistical Analysis Used: Proportions and Mann–Whitney U test. Results: Scores of all the participants fall in the medium scale for “work satisfaction”. For “respect”, 93.6% fall in the medium scale. In “employer care” 97.7% fall in medium category. All the workers scored in the medium scale for the “intrusion in private life”. None of the scores were in low scale for any domain. Injury as an event was reported by 8.22%. Specific disease prevalence was highest for back ache as 72.1%. Hazard communication was done in 40% workers. Conclusions: We found poor working positions at work place and they did suffer from various medical morbidities at the work place.

The current article is about the background knowledge of corona, various epidemiological definitions and different strategies adopted to prevent and control corona infection. How the preventive measures are applied and what is epidemiological basis behind these measures is the core of the article. The article also mentioned the variations in mortality pattern and goes on defining important indicators as case-fatality ratio, deaths/1 lakh population and the relevance of both in the current situation of corona infection. In the article, important terms such as different types of cases in corona infection, basic reproduction number, effective reproduction number, and their epidemiological significance in corona infection, herd immunity, and herd immunity threshold are discussed. The importance of lockdown as a preventive measure, enforcement of epidemic disease act 1897 and its amendment, disaster management act 2005, social distancing, cough etiquette, and others are highlighted.

Background and Aims: Faith healing is a method of treating illnesses through the exercise of faith rather than medical methods. The current study was done with the objective to find out demographic variables of faith healers, various conditions for which the people approach them, various practices and processes used and to look for scope of integrated approach to healthcare with faith healers. Settings and Design: RHTC village was a sub center village of PHC Morad. Hence, for the study, all the villages which comes under PHC Morad were selected. The design of the study was a cross-sectional study. Methods and Material: The study was a cross sectional study where faith healers were interviewed based on a semi structured questionnaire comprising of both close and open-ended questions. Statistical Analysis Used: Absolute numbers. Results: Different reasons for which the persons usually came for ranged from supernatural possession, unemployment, family problems etc., and various different processes were used by these healers to solve the problems included giving charms and amulets, personal sacrifices like “baddha” (Nischay/praan) and many others. Conclusion: The study concludes that faith healers in many conditions and situations became the first point of contact as the faith of the community in these faith healers is deeply rooted.

Background: Adolescence is a period full of life marked by various changes such as biological, social, and psychological changes. Adolescence age group is particularly important seeing to the fact that this is a vibrant age group with lots of turbulence, energy, and lots of thought with changes in the thought process if put in correct direction can do wonders, but also there are chances of deviance in full. Objectives: The current study was carried out with the objectives of (i) educating the students on adolescent matters, the problems in this age group, sensitizing them to “life skill education,” and (ii) to assess the students’ learning and the impact made through the educational intervention program. Materials and Methods: The study was an educational intervention study. RHTC Bhadran was the chosen field area based on convenience. One school was identified in Bhadran. Boys of class IX (all 4 sections) and XI and XII class girls (all sections) were participants. The students were provided the adolescent education based on the module of UNICEF and NACO “Adolescent Education Programme.” Results: Mc Nemars test for two variables, namely, “knowledge about adolescence” and “knowledge about reproductive system,” before and after is highly significant both for males and females. Students both boys and girls responded to the focused group discussion questions and participated actively. Conclusion: There is a lack of knowledge about adolescent health and reproductive system in school going adolescents. The common source of information is most often the peers and Internet which creates more confusion than education. A well-formulated discussion by medical professionals in schools can bring about significant change in the understanding of students and their needs.

Background: Internship is the best period for acquiring practical knowledge and skills in Community Medicine to become a successful primary health-care physician. Effectiveness of internship has been questioned in many research papers. Assessment of skills during internship holds a very important place, because if the interns are not assessed for the skills, these skills are usually not practiced. Aims and Objective: This study aimed to frame a conceptual setup and introduction of a system of skill assessment for interns at the end of Community Medicine posting for acquired skills in cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains. Materials and Methodology: The study was a cross-sectional study. Totally 45 interns who completed their internship in Community Medicine at different points of time were inducted in the study. Before the starting of internship in Community Medicine, the interns were already briefed regarding their skills’ assessment at the end of the internship completion in the subject of Community Medicine. The interns were told about the skills which are already identified in the log book and were asked to practice it during their field training at respective places. Prior to assessing the skills, as this was a new method of assessment, the interns were briefed about the 10 skills. They were also briefed about the method of assessment which was a mix of Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) question stations and OSCE procedural stations. About 2 stations were kept for psychomotor domain, 1 for affective domain, and the rest 7 were of cognitive domain. Hence in total, there were 7 question stations and 3 procedural stations. Interns went through each station and had to answer the questions. Results: About 17 (37.8%) interns liked the assessment from very much to some extent, 21 (46.7%) interns were of the opinion that they practiced and learned skills because of this assessment as it was compulsory for them to learn, 20 (44.4%) interns said that this assessment introduction enhanced the learning process, and 18 (40%) interns liked the assessment system in an overall format. Overall, 22 (48.88%) interns liked the internship assessment very much. Nearly 24.44% of the interns did not like the assessment system. Conclusions: Skill assessment during internship offers an effective method to enhance competencies in Indian Medical Graduates (IMGs). The majority of the positive feedback of this innovative method from the interns validates the importance of structured efforts to achieve continuous professional development of IMGs.

Background: Community medicine is one of the important subjects taught in MBBS course. The subject comes in first, second, third year, and again in internship. Objective: To know students’ satisfaction and effectiveness of current teaching methods in community medicine with specific focus on non-classroom teaching and this the only subject with maximum contact duration with the students. Materials and Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study. The questionnaire was made in the Epi Info software and the students were asked to fill in the questionnaire one by one maintaining due confidentiality as name was not entered. The study is opinion-based study, wherein all the students were requested to opine on 11 questions put to them. The questions responses were in Likert scale as well dichotomous (yes/no). Result: Total 83 students participated and 43 were females and rest 40 were males. Of the total students, 76% students commented that field visits contribute much to their practical skills and knowledge. Same way 66.3% students were of the view that a good contribution is made by family studies and case studies to their practical skills and knowledge. Almost two-third (61.4%) students told that practical classes helps a lot to understand the subject better and adds extra to their knowledge. A total of 59% students opined that village stay is absolutely important and it is a different experience from classroom learning. Conclusion: A good blend of classroom teaching and non-classroom teaching with more of practical approach is required in the form of real field-based situation which will bring in more clarity and liking for the subject.

Background: Skilled health workers are unable to deliver services effectively without appropriate physical capitals. Objective: The current study is pursued with the objectives (1) to study the competence level of medical officers in providing the treatment and care of two specific noncommunicable diseases and emergency conditions. (2) To score primary health centers (PHCs) on the basis of vulnerability by using Vulnerability Index calculator. (3) To know about the availability of the medicines to treat diseases in question, important instruments, and vehicle. Materials and Methods: The current study is a cross-sectional study involving PHC medical officers (MBBS). There are total 47 PHCs in Anand district in Gujarat. It was decided to include 50% PHCs from each block out of total 47 PHCs. The PHCs were selected by systematic random sampling with sampling interval of 2 and ni calculated for each block separate. Σni is 25. Results: We found that the median knowledge scores for hypertension and diabetes among PHC medical officers were 4.00 and 4.50 out of 10. Mean Vulnerability Index was 7.36, which is overall coming in moderate vulnerability. A total of 40% medical officers were able to identify correctly at least 2 symptoms of hypertension. A total of 88% medical officers were able to handle cases of snake bite and bee stings. In all the PHCs, emergency lifesaving drugs were available. Conclusions: There should be proper training of medical officers in the treatment of noncommunicable diseases. Logistics that are not available should be made available.