Psychiatric Co-morbidities among patients with select non-communicable diseases in a coastal city of south India

Psychiatric illnesses are an important group of co-morbidities that can occur amongpatients with non-communicable diseases [NCDs]. Both these chronic conditions have an important implication in terms of quality of life, general well-being and cost of treatment and general longevity of the patient. The objectives of our study were to assess the burden of psychiatric co-morbidities among patients with select NCDs and to identify the determinants associated with them. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the outpatient departments [OPDs] of Government District Hospital, Mangalore. The study was conducted among patients with select NCDs viz. diabetes mellitus, hypertension, ischemic heart diseases and their combinations attendingOPDs of Government District Hospital, Mangalore. Participants were interviewed using Patient Health Questionnaire-Somatic, Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 11.0 [SPSS Inc., 233 South Wacker Drive, 11[th] floor, Chicago, IL 60606-6412]. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were performed to test the association between different variables. Among the 282 study participants, psychiatric illnesses observed were somatization [n = 99, 35.1%], anxiety [n = 54, 19.1%] and depression [n = 82, 29.1%]. Bivariate analysis showed significant negative association [P <0.05] between psychiatric illness and factors such as education, marital status, age <60 years, duration of illness of <10 years. However, on multivariate analysis only marital status [odds ratio [OR]: 0.500, confidence interval [CI]: 0.321-0.777, P = 0.002] and duration of illness [OR: 0.651, CI: 0.439-0.967, P = 0.032] were found to be significantly associated negatively with depression and anxiety

Awareness of medical students in a medical college in Mangalore, Karnataka, India concerning infection prevention practices

Healthcare-associated infections [HCAIs] are an important public health problem. It is estimated that approximately 1 out of every 20 hospitalized patients will contract an HCAI. The risk is substantial not only to patients but also to healthcare workers, who may contract deadly blood-borne infectious diseases. Hence, it is essential for healthcare professionals to have adequate knowledge regarding infection prevention practices [IPPs] to reduce the burden of these illnesses among patients seeking care. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 268 medical students at Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore. Information regarding important IPPs such as hand hygiene [HH], needle-stick injuries [NSIs], and standard precautions [SPs] was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. The collected information was analyzed using SPSS v.11. Fisher's exact test was used to test the association between variables of interest. Overall, knowledge levels regarding HH were low in aspects such as healthcare workers' hands as sources of infection [40%] and the minimum time needed to apply hand rubs [45.7%], whereas knowledge levels were high in aspects such as indications for using HH. Regarding NSI prevention, knowledge levels were low in aspects such as activities with the highest NSI risk [56%]. However, knowledge levels were high in relation to SPs. The knowledge levels regarding infection practices were not adequate among the participants, particularly in the case of hand hygiene methods. Other important aspects, such as needle-stick injuries and use of standard precautions, were better understood, although many aspects still require improvement. These findings suggest the need to consider strengthening the training related to IPPs as a separate entity in the existing curriculum

Evaluation of Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC) for HIV in a District of India

ICTCs provide a critical entry point for prevention, care and support for both people affected by HIV/AIDS and general population. The study was conducted with the objective of evaluating ICTCs in terms of infrastructure and staffing, services provided, level of utilization and quality of counselling. The structure and process evaluation of 13 ICTCs under National AIDS control programme III (NACP III) was carried out in a Coastal District of South India. The evaluation was carried out using UNAIDS Tools between July and September of 2010. Twelve out of 13 ICTCs (92%) had adequate infrastructure and staff. Most of the general clients (75%) attending ICTCs were provider initiated and 84.5% of antenatal women in the district attended pre-test counselling and also underwent HIV testing. Twenty six pre-test counselling sessions and 12 post test sero-positive counselling sessions were observed. Pre-test counselling content assessment revealed that only 57.4% of sessions address all the issues whereas, 79% of post-test sessions addressed most of the issues during counselling. Counsellors’ skills assessment information gathering and information giving were found to be poorly done. It was found that post test counselling sessions were not conducted for clients with HIV negative report. The aspects of ICTCs such as services provided at the centers, utilization of services by the clients, infrastructure and staffing pattern were found to be adequate. Counselling forms the vital component of the ICTC needed improvement and post test counselling should be mandatory to all the clients.