Use of safety belt among army personnel

To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of safety belt use and the reasons for its non use among army personnel. A cross-sectional descriptive study. The study was carried out at Rawalpindi Cantonment from Jan 2013 to June 2013. The study was carried out among two different categories of Army Personnel i.e. officers and soldiers through a structured questionnaire. Mean age of officers and soldiers was 38 and 29 years respectively. A total of 146 [97.3%] officers and 128 [85.3%] soldiers were in favor of using seat belt while driving whereas 4 [2.7%] officers and 22 [14.7%] soldiers were against it. The study depicted that 147 [98%] officers and 133 [88.7%] soldiers had sufficient knowledge about the significance of safety belt use but the results regarding its use were not encouraging as 56 [37.3%] officers and 40 [26.7%] soldiers did not use safety belt while driving, although 146 [97.3%] officers and 128 [85.3%] soldiers were in favor of using safety belt. Army personnel had sufficient knowledge about the significance of safety belt; similarly attitude towards its use was also satisfactorily positive however, a significant percentage was indeed not putting their knowledge of significance into practice. Inattention and inconvenience along with inadequate law was the main reason for not using safety seat belt

study of ninety snake bite cases at Pakistan air force [PAF] hospital, shorkot, Pakistan

Analysis of clinicoepidemiological and laboratory findings of snake bite cases managed in PAF Hospital Shorkot. Descriptive observational study. PAF Hospital Shorkot, from July 2008 to June 2011. A total of ninety [90] cases of snake bite who reported in emergency department of the hospital were included in the study. Data of patients was recorded for type of snake [as much as possible], site of snake bite, presence of fang marks, age and sex of the person bitten, date, time and place of bite, time taken by the victim to reach hospital, presence of symptoms and signs of envenomation in victim and type of treatment received before referral. All patients were managed accordingly. Similarly type of in-hospital treatment like giving of anti-venom serum and total duration of hospital stay in each patient was also recorded. Data was then expressed in percentage. There were 70% male and 30% female patients. The age range was 7-54 years with a mean age of 27.8 +/- 10.8 years. Most of the cases of snake bite [82%] occurred between the months of April and September. A total of 60 [66.6%] patients were bitten at night. In 21 [23.3%] cases the victims brought the snakes, Among these, 4 [19.0%] snakes were scaled vipers, 3 [14.3%] snakes were kraits and 2 [9.5%] snakes were cobras, while 57.2% snakes remained unidentified. Majority [63%] had bites on lower extremities, 36% had bites on upper limbs. One [1.1%] victim was bitten on scrotum. Intravenous anti-snake venom was given to 52 [57.8%] patients. Majority of cases of snake bite occur during rainy summer season in rural areas particularly at night. Severity and pattern of envenoming varies from patient to patient. Knowledge of types of snake and risk factors and complications of snake bite is important. Early evacuation of snake bite cases to nearest hospital capable of dealing with snake bite can effectively reduce mortality and morbidity

School health services in Rawalpindi cantonment

To study the existing infrastructure provided for public as well as private school health services in Rawalpindi cantonment. A descriptive study. The study was carried out in Rawalpindi cantonment from Aug 2008 to Feb 2009. The study was carried out in two different categories of schools comprising public and private schools. The results of the study did not depict an encouraging picture and 100% of schools, whether public or private, had no medical officer / school nurse employed. School health system assessment and a comparison of public and private sector schools showed that no organized services are available for the students and most of the schools lacked fully available services of a medical officer and the concept of annual or periodic examination required still more concrete efforts

Re-use of disposable syringes in private health care facilities of Rawalpindi

One of the main factors, which are commonly implicated in the rapid increase in the incidence and spread of infectious diseases like hepatitis B,C and HIV, is the re-use of disposable syringes and their improper disposal. Awareness regarding the known and potential hazards of re-use of disposable syringes has increased in the recent years, as almost every one either has a relative, dear one or somebody they know suffering from hepatitis B or hepatitis C. To assess the existing situation regarding re-use of disposable syringes in private health care facilities of Rawalpindi, a descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out in Rawalpindi Cantonment. The study was carried out in three different categories of private health care facilities comprising of general practice clinics, uni-speciality clinics and polyclinic hospitals/private nursing homes. Two hundred injection event were observed for safe injection practices. Fifty health care providers were interviewed for their knowledge and attitude towards the safe injection practices. We had to intervene to prevent potential harm if we were about to witness injection practices that were of particular danger to the injection recipients e.g re-use of disposable syringes and needles. The results of the study depicted not an encouraging picture and on 48 [24%] occasions, there was re-use of disposable syringes observed in injection administering practices. Only 50% of the providers wash their hands before giving injection. The proportion of reuse of disposable syringes is very high and most of the health care provider are unaware about the consequences of reuse of disposable syringes. Majority of the providers do not adopt safe injection protocol. Therefore a multidisciplinary and holistic approach is needed to deal with this menace of the re-use of disposable syringes and unsafe injection practices in our country