Study of mortality in the main University Hospital in Alexandria

The present study was carried out with, aiming to assess the mortality outcome among inpatients of the Main University Hospital [MUH] in the years 1990 and 1995 to reveal characteristics of the descendants, and to study variations encountered between 1990 and 1995. In both years, about 1/4 of deaths were from outside Alexandria, and deaths were more observed during winter and spring. The leading causes of death are varied between the study years. In 1990, they were injury and poisoning, diseases of circulatory, respiratory, digestive and genitourinary systems. While in 1995, they were diseases of the digestive system jump to the third rank and followed by diseases of the genitourinary system. Moreover, significant differences were encountered by time regarding the causes of death where malignant neoplasms, diseases of digestive system and congenital malformations were significantly more observed in 1995 than in 1990. The reverse was true regarding diseases of respiratory system, diseases of blood as well as the category of symptoms, signs and abnormal findings. Intensive Care, Hematemesis, and Burn Units had the highest death rates in both study years

Accidents among elderly people attending the emergency departments of the University Hospitals in Alexandria

This study was conducted to describe the types of elderly accidents and their resulting injuries, estimate the mean injury severity score [ISS] among study cases and its relation to some variables and lastly to identify health problems of the elderly and their associated risk of accidents occurrence. The study included 259 elderly accident cases with a male to female ratio of 0.9 and a mean age of 71.1873 +/- 8.6387 years. More than two thirds of studied cases attended El- Hadra Hospital [68.34%]. Falls were the most common type of accidents among the study cases followed by road traffic accidents, exposure to inanimate mechanical force and lastly poisoning [66.02%, 22.01%, 7.34% and 4.63% respectively]. On the other hand, the most common types of the encountered injuries were fractures [59.80%], wounds [26.09%], joint injuries [4.01%] and intracranial injuries [2.77%]. The mean ISS of the studied cases was 11.7408 +/- 11.0361. It was significantly higher among patients who attended the Main University Hospitals [MUH] as well as victims of road traffic accidents. The health problems found to be significant predictors of elderly accidents occurrence were arthralgia, imbalance, coronary heart diseases, hypertension, chronic respiratory illnesses, incontinence of urine, dizziness, diabetes mellitus, as well as impaired vision and hearing

Comparative study of mothers' knowledge of children immunization before and after mass media

Past experience about immunization programs calls for continuous monitoring of a healthy attitude among users towards vaccination. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of health education messages [mass media] on knowledge and practice of mothers as regards compulsory vaccination schedule. Data were collected from 250 females attending MCH centers during the first half of 1991 for either vaccinating their children or receiving antenatal care [exposed group]. These data were compared to the data collected from a group of mothers before implementation of the intense mass media campaign on immunization [1983], [non-exposed group]. There was a .significant increase in the mean score of knowledge among the exposed mothers. The mass media messages became the main source of information among the majority of the exposed group. Females utilizing mass media as their main source of information were largely having a satisfactory level of knowledge. This study recommends enforcement of mass media educational campaigns on childhood immunization as well as reconsideration paid to the nature and content of messages

Knowledge about menstruation and practices of nursing students affiliated to university of Alexandria

All secondary school nursing students enrolled in the Main University Hospital during the scholastic year 1987 - 1988 were studied for knowledge and practices related to menstruation. Over 85% of the students were acquainted with age of menarche, length of the menstrual cycle, and duration of menstrual bleeding. Only 71.54% gave correct answers about age of menstrual cessation. Students' practices revealed that one quarter of the sample avoid bathing during their bleeding period. About two thirds of the students stated that they use 3-8 sanitary pads per day. First year students significantly used less pads than those at higher grades. Menstrual pains and fear of bleeding were the causes of absenteeism from school among 37.62% of the sample. The higher the grade the more likely that the student carries out her normal daily activities without any difficulties. The main source of knowledge on the topic was the mother. The nursing school education was not mentioned except by minority of students in relation to menstrual hygiene