Elderly’s Health Survey in Nam Phon : A Case Study

An  objective  of  a  descriptive  study  was  to  investigate  health  status  of  elderly  who  resided  in  Nam  Phong,  rural  area.  Study  population  were  all  of  elderly  aged  60  and  over   who  living  in 3  Villages,  Nam  Phong  district,  Khon  Kaen  Province.  Research  instruments  for  data  collection  were  weighing  of  body  weight  and  height  measurement  in order  to  obtain  body  mass  index  (BMI),  stool  examination  for  detecting  parasites  ova,  included  interviewing  with  questionnaire.  A total  subject  was  90 elderly. Result  of  this  study  revealed  that  49.4%  had  BMI  lower  than  normal  which  found  higher  in  males  than  females.  Based  on  BMI  criteria,  there  were chronic  energy  deficiency  23.5%,  obesity  12.3%.  Stool  examination  showed  30.5%  of  elderly  found  parasites.  One  third  (33.3%)  of  elderly  reported  use  of  analgesic  drugs  and  cocktail  drug  (a  set  of  variety  drug  called  “Ya-Chud”).  Approximately  half  of  this  figure  were  drug  abuse.  The  elderly  were  still  at  risk  to  chemical  use  in  agricultural  activities  and  19%  were  smoking  at  work. An  establishing  group  of  elderly  in rural  area  is  recommended  by  the  authors  in order  to  promote  recreation,  helping  and  teaching  each  other,  which  will  be  effective  not  only  physical  health  but  also  mental  health  of  elderly  as  well.

Achievement in Personality and Ethics Development 1st year medical student, 1994 Academic year.

Objective1. To establish and develop personality in order to promote good leadership and member the essential merit and ethics that correlate to the social needs of students.2. To build up and create appropriate values in Thai society among the students themselves especially in terms of unity, affection and a sense of belonging to each other and to the Academic Institute.3. To develop the students in terms of Social, Emotional \& Moral behaviour so that they can adapt to the new society.4. Build up the sensitivity and responsibility of students society and to the country after graduation.Methods – Assigning the students to attend the 2 night camp,s activities.  There was an Analysis lecture of the present situation, social problems and human behaviour.  There was a video show about the Developemtn trends or the ‘new life’ Community Development.  Example of development experiences, leadership and human relations were raised.  There was a planning group meeting, arranging a project, self and family development activities,  The proposal of group and other activities from evaluation by collective observations, interviews and questionaires.  It has been found that to accomplish the target object.  The students program needed to be supplemented \& develop in order to get better personality, leadership and member, good merit \& ethics in society.  Appropriate values had to be emphasized such as unity, affection, relationships with one another, a price in the institute, adaptation to colleaques and the environment.  These values also include the feeling of responsibility for society that effect the entire country in the future. The recommendation from students and lecturers who attended this program is that it should have there activities for the 2 nd year and the 3 rd year students and there should be a chane of locations for demonstration.  The suggested place should be within a walking distance to the campus and provide proper accommodation and a conference room.  Interesting \& effective media should be used.  There main meals should be arranged and the light meal or snack could be reduced.  Public relations procedure should be advertised throughroughly and lecturers should participate in the activities, The evaluation should be done regularly so as to adjust and improve the weak points and consequently become the faculty policy Further more.  The academic program should include the merit and ethical teaching and the supplementary activities should be continuously administered until graduation.

Evaluation of the Apprenticeship Project for the 4th year Medical Students at the Community Hospitals administered by the KKU Medical school Alumni.

 In  1990  a  study  tour  for  medical  students  to  eight  community  hospitals  where  the  medical  alumni  of  Khon  Kaen  University  are  selected  the  “ Annual  Outstanding  Physicians”   This  program  had  the  following  objectives  ;  1. To  make  the  students  familiar  with  the  Work  environment,  especially  planning  and  administration  of  primary  health  care  services  and  social  medicdine.2. To  give  the  students  a  good  model  for  developing  their  work  in  the  future.3. To  provide  learning  opportunities  through  the  use  of  instructional  media  for  the  students  who  have  never  had  a  chance  to  see  the  real  life  situation.  4. To  let  the  students  learn  about  the  work  of  the  outstanding  alumni  doctors  in  the  community   hospitals   and  promote  the  reputation  of  Khon  Kane  University.  Evaluation  by   the  students  showed  that  the  directors of  the  community   hospitals  and  the  faculty  lecturers  have  provided  the  learning   experiences   successfully   and   nearly  me  the  set   objective.  The  students  experienced  the   real  situation,   especially   in  the   areas   of  hospital   administration  and  administration  of  primary   health  care  programs  and  social  medicine.  Nevertheless,  in  terms  of  the  structure  of  planning,  the  students  did  not  gain  enough  knowledge  and  experience.  The  students  did,  however,  learned  a  very  good  pattern  from  the  senior   medical  professionals  for  developing  their  future  careers.  A  video  recording  was  prepared  to  teach  ethics  to  the  second – year  medical  students  and  or  students  who   did  not  join  the  tour  group.  Also,  this  video  recording  can  be  used  to  encourage  the  alumni  of  the  faculty  of  Medicine  of  Khon  Kaen  University  to  set  good  examples  for  students  and  younger  doctors.  This  project  is  sill  stimulating   all  the  personnel  involved  in  the  community  hospitals  to  be  alert  and  active  in  their  routine  jobs,  which  will  effect  better  service  for  all  the  patients  who  are  in  need  of  medical  care.

The uses of physical exercise and mental practice for physical healing.

 The uses of physical exercise associated with mental practice for physical healing were conducted through the mobile health service. The objective of the physical healing project were : (1) to study the behavior of villagers concerning their responsiveness to exercise and practice without drug treatment, (2) to practice the techniques which assist patients to reach tranquility, and (3) to promote and motivate patients to use physical exercise and mental practice for stress, strain and exhaustion conditions. The results revealed that the exercise and practice were accepted by the villagers. Such exercise and practice do not go against Thai culture and the faith of  Buddism. Patients who suffered from muscular, nervous, digestive and respiratory system problem found relief from such sicknesses after the exercise and practice were performed.

Evaluation of the 5th Year Medical students’ Observtion Project of Basic Health Care, the Role of Community Health Officers, and the Rural Development of Local Philosophers, 1991.

 The objectives of the 5th year medical students’ 1991 observations of basic health care, the activity of community Health Officers, and the rural development of local philosophers are as follows: 1.  The acknowledgement of basic health care work, including its obstacles in each province in the northeast.  2.  The acknowledgement of the District’s public health activity, including the obstacles-encountered, in order to allow a better understanding and cooperation for students in the future.  3.  The acknowledgement of rural development Problems including interesting community leader’s development methods.  4.  To be an educational medium for the other students who do not have the opportunity to observe the activities in the area. The result of evaluation of students, provincial health officer, community health officer, local philosopher and the instructors who joined this observation has shown that the objectives were achieved.  Moreover the students could see the real situation of medical practice and the new track of rural development based on Benefit Minimum Health Needs, which is used to estimate by the workers in the Community.  They also had an opportunity to observe the basic health care working system at the district level by observing a Community Health Team.  The acknowledgement of the problems and the genuine practitioners in each area where there were different problems and various solving methods were seen.  The instructors also had the opportunity to learn about the new rural development system, so that it could be an inspiration in arranging educational programmes for the students of each year. In addition, there was a linkage of knowledge among provincial health officers, community health officers, the directors of community hospitals, the staff of sub-districts health officer and local philosophers.  This will help promote close collaboration between these community institutes.

Development of Appropriate Personality and Ethics in Medical Students.

Background:  The objective of this research was to evaluate the progressive behavior development of fourth and fifth year medical students based on their first to third year attendance at the seminars, “How to develop good personality qualities and ethics.”  The research focused on: 1. Behavioral differences between trained versus previous groups of students who had not been trained. 2. Whether and how the training actually affected student behavior. 3. Development of recommendations for future course.Method:   This was prospective cohort behavioral study.  The data were elicited from fourth and fifth year medical students using questionnaires, direct observations, and informal interviews.  They were compared with the collective subjective judgement of faculty members regarding former students who did not undergo the same training.Results:  Students who passed all of the training sessions had good relationships with teachers, colleagues patients, and family.  The tone of their conversation was positive.  Their behavior (manners and responsiveness to patients) and ethics (capacity to use appropriate medical techniques) were judged to be better than those students who had not been trained. We concluded that since the first three years of training are formative (with eagerness and newness), training in behavior and ethics at this time is well-received; allowing students to prepare themselves for the following more interactive clinical phase of medical education. Notwithstanding, the wholly subjective nature of the comparison of trained versus untrained students, all (100%) of the department heads and head nurses agreed that medical students should attend training in ethics and personal behavior development.  Similarly, 92% of the fourth and fifth year students were of the opinion that behavior and ethics training, both in class and at camp, should continue because they learned about economizing, psychology, manners, appropriate attire, public conduct, and respectfulness toward teachers, colleagues, seniors and juniorsKey words: Medical Students, Personality, Ethics