ABSTRACT
Background: Breast milk is optimum for a neonate as it is a natural food and the best gift a mother can give to her baby. Breast feeding is an art and skill which need to be learnt and mastered by mothers. As health care workers are the first line of contact for lactating mothers, this study was planned to assess their knowledge on breast feeding.Methods: Hospital based cross-sectional study was performed among health care workers at Yenepoya Medical College and Hospital of Mangalore. 100 health care workers consisting of 60 medical interns and 40 staff nurses were enrolled in the study. Health care workers were given a questionnaire that sought responses pertaining to the knowledge on breastfeeding and its techniques. The data were analyzed using Microsoft Access and Excel software.Results: The present study showed 92% of medical interns and 95% of nursing staff had correct knowledge about initiation of breastfeeding. Knowledge on contents of colostrums and its advantage was more among medical interns (85%) as compared to nursing staffs (30%). Knowledge on prelacteal feeds was good among medical interns as compared to nurses. Both medical interns and nursing have poor knowledge on breastfeeding during maternal illness. Knowledge on correct feeding position and good breast attachment was good among nursing staffs.Conclusions: Study showed there is some substantial knowledge gap on breastfeeding among health care workers. Enhancing their knowledge on breastfeeding and the problems associated with it will be useful for the nurturing mothers as well as themselves.
ABSTRACT
Background: Antibiotic resistance has become an emerging issue worldwide due to the rampant and excessive use of antibiotics for any and every condition. At present, antibiotics are the most commonly sold drugs in the developing countries which have been the cause for escalation of antibiotic resistance. Lack of knowledge, awareness and practice among parents regarding antibiotics use is the most important cause for antibiotic misuse.Methods: Cross sectional hospital based questionnaire study conducted among 200 parents of children attending the outpatient or inpatient department at Yenepoya Medical College Hospital, Mangalore; using personal interview method. Parents were asked to answer the statements on a 5-point Likert scale ('strongly agree', 'agree', 'uncertain', 'disagree', 'strongly disagree' or 'never', 'sometimes', 'often', 'most of the time', 'always'). Statistical Package of social science (SPSS) software was used for analysis of data.Results: Out of the 200 parent's majority of the respondents (69%) were mothers. There was very little difference in percentage of respondents that disagreed with notion that antibiotics must be administered in any case of fever (43.3%). 42.3% mentioned that antibiotics were always necessary in ARI. Most common symptoms to visit pediatrician included cough (23.4%), followed by ear pain (18.1%) and nasal discharge (12.9%). 17.5% of parents never questioned the pediatricians if antibiotic administration was necessary and more than 2/3rd of the parents declared that pediatricians provided sufficient information regarding diagnosis and therapy.Conclusions: Majority of parents admitted to self-administration of antibiotics. There is a need of intervention to increase awareness regarding judicious use of antibiotics and to check un-prescribed dispensing of antibiotics. Strategies for effective communication with patients and prudent prescription of antibiotics should be included in physician education to ensure patients' adherence to advice and consequently to reduce self-medication with antibiotics.