ABSTRACT
Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices among nurses regarding counterfeit drugs.
Methodology: Cross sectional study. The study was conducted in Madina Teaching Hospital which is attached to the University Medical and Dental College Faisalabad. Total number of nurses was 60 and all were included in the study. Only nurses were chosen because of their direct involvement in administering the drug/injection during duty hours and also they are the first to notice any adverse effects of drugs. Data was collected through pretested restrictive form of questionnaire. Written permission from ethical review committee and informed consent from the participants was taken before conducting the survey. All questionnaires were edited before entering in the computer. Once the data had been cleaned as thoroughly as possible, the distribution of each variable was re-examined as a final check. Non-sampling errors like selection bias, non-coverage, non-contact and non-response were tried to minimize
Results: Out of the 59 nurses who responded from a total of 60, 57 [96.6%] had heard of incidences regarding counterfeit drugs [see table I]. 59 [100%] considered them substandard in quality, 33 [55.9%] thought they were expired drugs, while 9 [15.3%] said that they were made from herbs [see table II]. However a majority of 94.9% understood that they were harmful drugs. 100% nurses said they examined the packaging meticulously and checked the expiry date before administrating the drug [see table III]. 98.3% sent any such drugs for laboratory testing [see table IV]. 100% nurses immediately stopped the use of such drug [see table V]. 34 out of the 59 nurses [57.6%] had seen adverse drug reaction in multiple patients. 89.8% said they kept records of such drugs and all of the participants [100%] reported such incidents to the authorities [see table VI]
Conclusion: Majority of the nurses were aware of the counterfeit drugs problem and its effects on the patients. Over all, most of them understood that counterfeit drugs were harmful to the health of the patients and this study further helped to clear their concepts
ABSTRACT
This longitudinal study was conducted during August to December 2011 in District Faisalabad to analyze epidemiological pattern of dengue outbreak in the district. Weekly trends of all cases [893] reported through Disease Surveillance System from week No. 33 to 52 were monitored. On the basis of this continuous flow of information, different ongoing vector control measures were adopted simultaneously in different areas of the district and larval indices were calculated. The Surveillance data was used to monitor the trends of the outbreak in terms of time, person and place. Teams of 3102 trained workers were formed to conduct various surveillance activities like vector surveillance, fogging, larviciding, and indoor residual sprays. During indoor and outdoor vector surveillance, teams also calculated the larval indices for vector control. The rural to urban ratio of cases was 1:3. Maximum cases [215] were reported from Jinnah Town in urban area and [102] cases were reported from Tehsil Sadar among the rural areas. Most cases of dengue fever were observed during the 37-46 weeks of the year 2011. Mean age was 29 +/- 14.7 years for rural and 35 +/- 16.5 years for urban. Male to Female ratio was 1.2:1 in urban and 1.8:1 in rural areas. Majority of the cases belonged to the age group 21 -30. The case fatality rate was 6/1000 cases. The house Index was 1.03%, the indoor container index was 0.26% and the breateu index was found 1.21%. Maximum cases occurred during 40th to 44th weeks. Male were affected more as compared to females. Jinnah Town in urban areas and Tehsil Sadar among the rural areas reported maximum number of cases. The different calculated larval indices like house index, indoor/outdoor container index and breateu index showed moderate larval growth and hence, the outbreak was within control