ABSTRACT
Introduction: Needle stick injuries are often neglecteddespite being an important occupational hazard, withpotential to transmit infectious diseases. There is a need forraising awareness about them among all cadres of health careworkers. The current study was done to assess the problem inGovernment Health facilities of a rural district of J&K.Material and methods: Descriptive cross sectional study wasdone using all the secondary and 40% of the primary healthfacilities of the district. Study was conducted among doctors,paramedics and waste handlers. Statistics involved wereproportions or percentages, assessed by chi square test.Results: about 85% health workers considered needle stickinjury as a matter of concern. 27% were recapping the needleafter use. 12% had suffered a needle stick injury in the last oneyear and only half of them were immunized for Hepatitis B.Conclusion: There is a need of sensitization of the variouscadres of healthcare staff which is necessary to decreasethe risk of occupational exposure of infectious diseaseswith significant focus on waste handlers. There is a needfor enhancing the coverage of Hepatitis B immunizationespecially among the waste handlers who form the mostvulnerable group.
ABSTRACT
Background: Dementia is common in the geriatric population. It has been suggested that early detection leads to benefits for the patient and their family and cuts the costs. The solution to this problem lies in the development of brief and easily applicable tests that are acceptable to patients, their caregivers, and health professionals. The current study was undertaken for screening for dementia using Mini-Cog scale.Methods: Cross sectional study from District Budgam of Kashmir Division done on individuals aged >60 yrs after providing informed consent. All participants underwent comprehensive evaluations using the Mini-Cog scale for Dementia.Results: The overall prevalence of dementia was 57.5%. Majority of the individuals with dementia were illiterate (49.8%) and had completed up to primary education (63.2%). However no statistical significance was seen between marital and educational status with dementia. About 70.8% of the individuals with dementia were not aware of the availability of facilities related to mental issues.Conclusions: Need of the hour is to develop culturally appropriate interventions that could be integrated with dementia services within the primary health care system.