சுகாதார கல்வி ஆராய்ச்சி மற்றும் மேம்பாட்டு இதழ்

Objective: The study examined the knowledge, attitude and perception on the prevention of home accidents among mothers who reported at the pediatrics department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
Sample: In all 30 mothers with children age 0 to 5 years were sampled for the study.
Methods: The study also used the survey method with the aid of the questionnaire as the main instrument of data collection.
Results: The outcome of the study showed that (73.3%) have had their children suffered from child injuries. Again, in terms of the prevalence of specific child injuries the study observed that burns (66.7%) and cut/wounds (63.3%) were recorded as the most prevalent child injuries among the respondents. In all 70 percent of the respondents recorded child injuries more than once in their homes. Furthermore, majority of the mothers expressed high knowledge on the causes and risk factors of home accidents among children aged 1-5 years. There is a clear indication of positive attitude of the respondents towards prevention of child injuries associated with the child at home. However, there is an indication from the outcomes that the respondents exhibited inappropriate attitude to prevention of home accidents. The study found that with the exception of education of mother and marital status of the mothers, all the other demographic variables showed insignificant relationship to prevention of child injuries. The study recommends that education programmers basing on the prevention and management of home accidents should be given urgent attention.

Background and objectives: Hypertension has been globally recognized as the most prevalent Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and a potent risk factor in the development of other CVD outcomes such as coronary heart diseases, stroke, and renal insufficiency. It has been reported to be on the increase in recent years, being the most rapidly rising CVD in Sub-Saharan Africa. Meanwhile it is associated with preventable risk factors as salt, alcohol and obesity. The purpose of the study is to screen participants for high blood pressure and BMI, provide information on healthy lifestyles as a measure to reduce risk factors that predispose to hypertension among the populace.
Methods: This work was an intervention study that adopted quasi experimental design in which only the Experimental Group (EG) was exposed to health education package aimed at lifestyle modification. Study was guided by three objectives and four hypotheses based on objective.
Results: Percentage of participants with normal blood pressure reading in the EG increased from 37% at baseline to 47% at end-line unlike the Control Group (CG). There was significant difference between the blood pressure readings of the EG and CG, P value=0.000 but there was no significant difference between the BMI of the EG and CG, p value>0.05.
Interpretation and conclusion: This implies that health education influenced their lifestyles positively. There was no significant change in BMI as obesity was not a problem among the populace. Awareness through Health Education on healthy lifestyles especially importance of DASH diet need to be intensified in rural communities by Health workers.

Background: According to World Health Organization more than half of all medicines are prescribed and dispensed improperly, hence half of patients take them inappropriately. To reduce morbidity and mortality and their adverse outcomes, appropriate drug utilization has an enormous impact.

Methodology: This study is aimed to assess prescription patterns of drugs in Finote Selam and Motta District Hospital in outpatient pharmacy unit. The study was cross-sectional retrospective by selecting the outpatient pharmacy units of Finote Selam and Motta district hospitals. A total of 362 prescription papers were incorporated from March 01/2015 to February 29/2016. A structured standardized proforma, adopted from the world health organizations, was used to fill data by observing the prescriptions papers of patients. The data was entered into EPI INFO version 7.0, and then analyzed using World Health Organization drug use indicators.

Results: A total of 362 prescriptions were reviewed retrospectively from a total of those prescribed for 1-year period. The average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 2.1 with a range between 1 and 5. The percentage of encounters in which an antibiotic or injection was ordered was 58.8% and 3.6%, respectively while the percentage of those drugs prescribed by generic name and from an essential drug list was 98.4% (n=742) and 81% (n=611), respectively. Amoxicillin (9.2%), ciprofloxacin (6.2%), and doxycycline (4.8%) were among the common antibiotics prescribed.

Conclusion: Our study showed that the prescription pattern for most antibiotics deviates from the one advised by the world health organization. There is also overuse of some antibiotics which needs urgent intervention. The study also revealed the occurrence of an increasing practice of prescribing drugs using generic names. The very interesting point that our study revealed is problems like poly pharmacy and prescribing from the essential drug list were not concerns in the studied hospitals. Baseline data gathered by this study can be used by researchers and policymakers to improve prescribing practice at these two Hospitals. Lastly, drug prescribing practices in these two hospitals are not far from the world health organization requirements.

This research explores the association among transformational leadership, employee performances and also investigates the mediation of job satisfaction in the association of transformational leadership as independent variable and employee performance as dependent variable in health sector of Pakistan. Research data was collected; using questionnaire total 152 respondents participated in the study. From data analysis, it was concluded that the transformational leadership positively influences employee performance in the health sector of Pakistan. Job satisfaction as mediator was assessed by applying mediated regression analysis. It was found that job contentment mediated the affiliation between relation of transformational leadership as independent variable and employee performance as dependent variable.

Background: In basic life support, chest compressions are a very important and basic skill. Acquiring the ability to perform chest compressions is affected by individual characteristics such as physique and physical strength, although all persons can learn to Perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), including chest compressions. The aim of this study was to examine differences in physique between males and females and Basic Life Support (BLS) skill using a portable manikin with automated corrective feedback.
Methods: Participants were 120 fourth-year preclinical dental school students (87 males, 33 females). For skill assessment, students performed chest compressions and single rescuer CPR using a Laerdal Resusci Anne Skill Reporter TM manikin for 2 minutes each before and after CPR. Outcome measures were (1) compression depth (mm), (2) compression rate (number of compressions per minute), (3) compression release depth (recoil, mm), and (4) hand position before and after the BLS course.
Results: After the BLS course, compression depth and rate improved significantly. Both before and after the BLS course, male students performed deeper chest compressions than female students. In females, the duration of acceptable chest compressions was significantly shorter than in males.
Conclusion: CPR performance was significantly different between males and females, probably due to differences in physique. Therefore, it is necessary for individualized instruction adapted to the learner’s characteristics.