Validation of WHO QOL-BREF instrument in indian adolescents.

Objective. To test the psychometric properties of World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHO QOL-BREF) instrument in Indian adolescents. Methods. Of 1900 schools in Lucknow city, 20 schools were invited to participate. To make WHO QOL-BREF instrument culturally appropriate for Indian adolescents, a minor modification was done by replacing one item in Social domain “Are you satisfied with your sex life?” with “Are you satisfied with the respect you receive from others?”. The revised WHO QOL-BREF was administered to subjects in school after obtaining written parental consent. Results. From August 2007 – January 2008, 525 adolescents were recruited (mean age 14.04±2.09 yr; 52.38 % males). Adolescents reported highest HRQoL in social relations and lowest in environment domain. The instrument showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s a=0.87; p-value<0.01) as well as good content, construct and predictive validity (pvalues< 0.05). Psychological domain had best predictive validity, whereas, social relations domain had best content validity. Conclusion. The study provides evidence that revised WHO QOL-BREF is a reliable and valid instrument and can be used in Indian adolescents.

Cost Awareness and Containment : OPD Pharmaceutical Services of a Speciality Hospital

A major share of the hospital budget gets consumed in maintaining its pharmacy services. The cost consumption pattern of different group of medicines is directly related to the prescription load and prescription pattern. The Medical Officers and specialists of the hospital have got all important role in rational prescription in term of current therapeutics and saving on over prescription. A study carried out in a tertiary level super-speciality hospital indicated that the total cost of medicine per OPD day and cost of antibiotics work out to be Rs. 45291 and Rs. 11974 on an average, respectively. The average cost per prescription of OPD was up to Rs. 123.75.