Prevalence of Health Problems, Professional and Financial Satisfaction among Doctors Working Across Vadodara City: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: The present study was conducted to know the distribution of various health problems among doctors and to assess professional and financial satisfaction levels among doctors. Methods: A Google Form questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 122 doctors in Vadodara selected purposively after taking consent. Google form was circulated by email and WhatsApp groups. The form consisted of questions related to demographic details, health problems, financial and job satisfaction. All the responses were recorded and analyzed in MS Excel 2019. Results: Among the 122 doctors, 89 (72.95%) were male and 33 (27.04%) were female and 101 (82.78%) doctors were taking treatment for some ailment. Around 86.9% of doctors regularly opt for a health check-up. Among the health problems reported by doctors, the most common were musculoskeletal ailments (72.13%) followed by hypertension (28.9%), diabetes (17.2), cardiac (12.3%), endocrinal (10.65%), eye (9.01), mental (6.55) problems. Approximately 37.70% of doctors answered that health problems temporarily affect their work; 5.73% of doctors felt the need to modify their work pattern. About 91.80% of doctors were satisfied by their profession, while 108 (88.52%) doctors were financially satisfied with their work. Conclusion: More than half of the professionals complained of musculoskeletal problems. The majority of health care professionals were professionally and financially satisfied.

Role of Counselling and its Impact on the Dietary Habits, Glycemic Control and Diabetic Awareness of Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients

Background : Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is a lifestyle disorders and it leads to complications that are life threatening which can be prevented by proper Counselling and Diet monitoring of patients. Objective : To evaluate effect of Counselling on the Glycemic control, Dietary habits and Diabetes awareness of type 2 DM patients. Method : A randomized clinical trial was conducted at a tertiary hospital. 96 subjects were randomized and baseline data was gathered from all patients included in the study. Out of these 48 patients were given Counselling on various aspects of Diabetes including diet, complications, medication, lifestyle modifications, exercise etc. Lab investigations and Diet calculations were done on first and 4 months later to measure the effect of Counselling on patient抯 Diet and Glycemic control and Diabetes awareness. Results : Diabetic awareness was measured in terms of number of correct responses which increased from 325 to 542 in Intervention group and from 357 to 402 in Control group. The increase in intervention group (22.60%) was more than that of the Control group (4.59%). The amount of calories in the diet of intervention and control group was respectively 2322�1 and 2334�0. Post Intervention it was 2344�0 and 2056�7respectively. Before intervention the difference in the amount of Calories, FBS, PP2BS between the 2 groups was statistically insignificant. But after intervention the difference with reference to total calories (p=0.0003), FBS (p=0.01) and PP2BS (p=0.0001) became statistically significant. Conclusion : Counselling led to a significant improvement in the Diabetic awareness, Glycemic control and Dietary habits of patients in terms of caloric intake.

Evaluation of the effect of Block Level Awareness Campaign on performance indicators of National Leprosy Elimination Program in Vadodara district, Gujarat, India.

Background: Leprosy is probably the oldest disease affl icting mankind and a public health problem for centuries. Many cases are hidden or undiagnosed, especially due to social stigma, and neglect of painless patches. Between years 2001 and 2005, during which time active surveillance for detection of leprosy was in practice, a steep fall in the prevalence rate (PR) of leprosy was observed. However, during later years, leprosy program discontinued active surveillance for detection of leprosy cases. Presently block level awareness campaign (BLAC) is a special measure undertaken in a campaign mode during September–November in priority areas, (PR > 1/10000 population), during which information, education and communication (IEC) activities and active surveillance of leprosy cases is done. Aims: To evaluate the effect of Block Level Awareness Campaign on performance indicators of national leprosy elimination program (NLEP) in Vadodara district. Methods: The campaign was carried out for 6 days in 12 talukas of Vadodara district by the district leprosy offi ce, Vadodara. Trained teams of health workers carried out information, education and communication (IEC) activity and active surveillance by undertaking house to house survey in each primary health centre (PHC) area. Suspected cases were identifi ed by the team and confi rmed clinically by medical offi cers in the primary health centre of the corresponding areas. A district nucleus team (DNT) validated these confi rmed cases. These data were compared with the district’s national leprosy eradication programme (NLEP) data for the same year, 2012 and the previous year, 2011. Results: A total of 1,574,586 persons, comprising 76%of the population surveyed, were screened for leprosy, which resulted in detection of 358 clinically confi rmed new cases of leprosy, out of which 225 (62.8%) were paucibacillary (PB) and 133 (37.2%) were multibacillary (MB) leprosy. Of these cases, 14 (4%) had deformities, and 37 (10.3%) were children. Limitations: Only 76% of the population could be covered. Histopathological confi rmation of the diagnosis was not undertaken. Because of the large number of health workers invovled, variations in their skills may have infl uenced the diagnosis of suspected cases. Conclusions: Active surveillance linked to focused block level campaigns can be useful tools to detect new hidden leprosy cases.

Dietary Pattern of Schoolgoing Adolescents in Urban Baroda, India.

Diet plays a very important role in growth and development of adolescents, during which the development of healthy eating habits is of supreme importance. There is a dual burden of undernutrition and overnutrition in this age-group. The study assessed the food habits, food preferences, and dietary pattern of schoolgoing urban adolescents in Baroda, India. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this study. A quantitative survey was carried out using a pre-tested self-administered structured questionnaire among 1,440 students from class 6 to 12 in 7 English medium and 23 Gujarati medium schools. Focus group discussions, 5 each with adolescent boys and girls, were held, along with 5 focus group discussions with teachers of Gujarati and English medium schools. Nearly 80% of adolescents had consumed regular food, like dal, rice, chapati, and vegetables, including green leafy vegetables. Nearly 50% of them had consumed chocolates, and about one-third consumed fast foods. Nearly 60% of adolescents had their breakfast daily while the remaining missed taking breakfast daily. Nearly one-third of adolescents were missing a meal once or twice a week. A large majority had consumed regular foods. However, more than half of them had consumed chocolates, soft drinks, and over one-third had taken fast foods.

Serostatus Disclosure and Safer Sex in HIV-positive Man: Case Study.

Disclosure of one’s human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive serostatus to a spouse or sex partner is important, particularly to inform the partner of the need to take precautions to prevent HIV transmission. Thus, understanding the process of disclosure is important to facilitating it to occur more often. Such understanding can best be achieved through a qualitative study (in-depth-interview) that elicits and systematically explores individuals’ stories of what has happened to them after disclosure of HIV.

Body Mass Index (BMI) and Self-Perception of Weight and Height among school going adolescents in urban Vadodara, India.

Background: Weight comments are commonly received by adolescents, but the accuracy of the comments and their effects on weight misperception are unclear. Aims & Objective: To know the perceptions of adolescents about their health status, body image, height and weight and then to compare it with their actual (Body Mass Index) BMI status. Material and Methods: This was Cross sectional study and Qualitative survey carried out using a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire among 1440 (748 girls and 692 boys) students from classes 6-12 in 7 English medium and 23 Gujarati medium schools. Five focus group discussions were held each with adolescent boys and girls from both Gujarati and English medium schools. Results: Regarding their perception about their health status, nearly 65% of the boys and girls felt that they were healthy. While their perception about the appropriateness of their height and weight, nearly half of the boys and girls felt that they had appropriate height and weight, One-fourth of them perceived themselves to be underweight, while another fourth thought that they were obese. When adolescents’ perception of the appropriateness of height and weight was compared with their actual BMI, it was found that, 10 to 15% of them were underweight or undernourished while 25 to 30% of them were overweight or obese. Among those, having normal BMI, 59% of boys and 62% of girls felt that their height and weight was normal. Conclusion: There has been a need for addressing physical growth, particularly; height and weight need to be explained more scientifically and in depth.

Challenges of collaborative research.

In 2009, as a supplement to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) -funded collaboration between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the NIH, a formative study was conducted with 30 HIV-positive people and 18 HIV-related service providers to understand sexual risk-taking, HIV-related disclosure, and other behavioural patterns among HIV-positive individuals in Baroda, Gujarat. One goal of this research was to determine how to adapt a counselling intervention which had been tested in the United States, in order to make it culturally and linguistically relevant for PLWHA(People living with HIV/AIDS) here.