ABSTRACT
Background: The world's elderly population is increasing rapidly. According to the 2011 census elderly population contributes to 7.4% of the total population. Both physical and mental disorders are prevalent among the elderly. Symptoms of depression in older people are often overlooked and untreated. Depression leads to loss of appetite, diminution of food intake, and weight loss consequently leading to malnutrition. Methodology: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among the geriatric population of urban field practice area using a predesigned, semi-structured questionnaire. Geriatric Depression was assessed using Geriatric Depression Scale and Nutritional Status using the Mini Nutritional Assessment Scale. House to house survey of the Geriatric population was conducted after obtaining written consent. Results: Out of 260 participants, 51.5% of the population were males, 49.2% of the population belonged to 60-69 years age group and 16.9% of them were more than 80 years of age. The prevalence of geriatric depression was 68.5 %,). The majority (64%) of the elderly population were at risk of malnutrition. Depression scores were negatively correlated with nutritional scores. Conclusion: The prevalence of depression and malnutrition was considerably high among the elderly population. Malnutrition among the elderly is a significant determinant of malnutrition.
ABSTRACT
Background: The sudden outburst of events in different parts of country like Dhule, Dharwad, Chennai and Jaipur led to the need of conducting a survey about violence against health care personnel. Health care personnel are at high risk of being victims of verbal and physical violence, its effect on them and their views on causes for sudden increase in such events. Methodology: A semi-structured questionnaire regarding their experience with violence against health care personnel was prepared. Data was collected for two months 朚ay and June 2017. Sample size of 200 was calculated which included doctors, nursing staff and group D workers from KIMS Hubballi and analysed using SPSS version 21. Results: 99.5% were aware of increasing violent events.76% of them have experienced violence of which, Verbal abuse- 92.10% being the highest form, emotional abuse -17.76% and physical violence 6.58%. The common place of violence was the emergency department -62.09% during daily working hours. 92.10% have reported that patient attenders caused violence. Conclusion: Verbal and emotional abuse against health care workers has significantly amplified which is deteriorating physician patient relationship. Violence against health care personnel is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with more safety measures at the hospital.