ABSTRACT
Background: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) represents a major epidemic of non-communicable disease in the present century affecting families, community and nation as a whole. Objectives was to study the epidemiological determinants of RTAs.Methods: A hospital based study of RTA victims was conducted for a period of one year at the District General Hospital and Medical College hospital of Amravati, Maharashtra. A total of 1394 patients were studied. Descriptive statistics like percentage and proportions were calculated. Proportions were compared using Chi square test of significance.Results: 86.7% were males and the maximum affected age group was 21 to 30 years. Majority of accidents were seen in summer season and on Monday of the week. Accidents were highest from 12 noon to 6 pm. Alcohol consumption was seen in 27% of the drivers. Two-wheelers were the commonest vehicle involved in RTAs. A total of 481 (34.5%) victims had fractures at various sites of the body, out of this 52.8% was of lower limbs. Right sided bony injuries were more common.Conclusions: There are multiple factors associated with RTAs which due to the lack of road safety measures in the country are playing their role. It is the need of the hour to address this issue and formulate rules and regulations and evaluate its enforcement.
ABSTRACT
Background & objective: Appropriate selection criteria for admission to medical college is a fundamental prerequisite where number of aspirants seeking admission to medical college has increased. The selection criteria used by medical colleges has been changing from time to time and not uniform all over India. Hence it is important to validate the selection criteria by observing performance of students during medical course. The study aims to find predictive value of entrance test & science score obtained at HSC level on the performance of medical students in I MBBS University Examination. Methods: The study included marks obtained in science subjects at HSC level, Entrance and I MBBS University examination for four consecutive batches(2009 to 2012). Correlation between all three variables was found using spearman rank correlation. Results: Performance in I MBBS examination showed no correlation with Entrance score but correlated significantly with science scores at HSC level (p<0.001). Also on Linear Regression Analysis, only HSC score showed strong positive correlation with First MBBS score(p<0.001). Interpretation & conclusion: This study indicates that Entrance test needs revision. Either the test should be modified or several selection tools like giving additional weightage to science score at HSC level should be combined, so as to select the optimum standard students.
ABSTRACT
This study compares the implementation of community-based monitoring (CBM) in 45 primary health centers (PHCs) in the pilot phase in Maharashtra with the equal number of randomly selected PHCs not implementing CBM (non- CBM) from the same districts. Information was collected by teams from Community Medicine Departments by visiting selected PHCs. Establishment of monitoring committees and training of medical offi cers (MOs) had been completed as required but only 36.36% MOs were trained. Only 43.18% MOs received the facility report card. Most of the MOs (90.90%) attended Jansunwai and opined that it had increased community awareness and the barriers between the people and PHC staff were broken. There was no difference in fund utilization and meetings of Rugna Kalyan Samittees. Percentage of Institutional deliveries and women receiving Janani Suraksha Yojana benefi ts among home deliveries was more in the non-CBM group of PHCs.