Visualizing ideas-heard of C-map

Communication and interaction between teachers and students always plays a vital role in building a sound educational system where learning becomes an experience. Further enhancement of this learning and understanding of the subject can be supported and secured by a process of conceptual mapping. Conceptual mapping is a step-wise process which includes text filling, relational predicates (understanding) and finally constructing the map. It is a technical tool which is easily accessible and economical in its time use. The idea of using the concept map is still in the primitive level and more emphasis has to be made in this area to use it to its full potential in the academic field.

Challenges faced by the patients in the management of risk factors of non-communicable diseases in a government primary health care setting of Puducherry

Background: India’s current approach for intervention in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is more in terms of early diagnosis and treatment. The focus should also be on the management of risk factors in the diseased individuals. The objectives of the study are to measure the risk factors of NCDs, lifestyle modification followed by them and to assess the challenges in reducing the risk factors of NCDs faced by the study population.Methods: The study was conducted between March and June 2017 in 2 government primary health centres (PHCs) in Puducherry. Based on systematic random sampling, 200 patients enrolled in NCD clinic with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, Stroke and myocardial infarction were selected for the study. After obtaining written informed consent, data was collected.Results: Out of 200 participants, majority of them were in the age group of 51-70 years (60%), females (71%) and living in nuclear family (83%). Among 200 participants, 23.5% of them had diabetes mellitus, 42% had hypertension and 24% had diabetes with hypertension. The risk factors that many of the participants had were excessive salt and sugar intake, overweight and obesity, less vegetable and fruits intake and alcohol consumption. Out of 200 participants, the major challenges in reducing the salt and sugar intake were lack of awareness and no family support.Conclusions: Most of the participants were oldest females who had diabetes or hypertension. The most common NCD they were suffering from were diabetes and hypertension. The major challenge in the management of NCDs is lack of awareness.

Utilization of AYUSH in public health care system: a review

India is currently facing shortage of trained health workforce, especially in rural areas. WHO recommends mainstreaming of Complementary & Traditional systems of medicine as an affordable & culturally acceptable way towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Despite the Government of India operating AYUSH clinics in PHCs for more than 10 years, we know very little about patients attending these clinics. Exploring the reasons for utilization of AYUSH care is of much value for planning to scale up the integration of AYUSH. The required information on utilization of AYUSH services were obtained through a review of the literature in PubMed databases (including MEDLINE) using the medical subject headings (MeSH) terms: ‘AYUSH’, ‘utilization’, ‘Ayurveda’, ‘Siddha’, ‘Homeopathy’, ‘morbidities’. All such studies which have focussed on profiling of patients who sought care in AYUSH were the individuals who have non–life-threatening chronic diseases or conditions. To improve AYUSH based health care services, it is imperative to understand the acceptability of AYUSH interventions among the general public for the utmost utilization of AYUSH services.

Patients’ satisfaction regarding facilities and services provided at AYUSH clinics of primary health centres in rural Puducherry

Background: Patient satisfaction is a crucial component of the health care system in today’s competitive modern era. There is a limited literature describing the patient satisfaction on AYUSH care and therefore this study was undertaken to assess the satisfaction about facilities, healthcare providers and treatment among the patients attending selected AYUSH-attached PHCs in rural Puducherry.Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted among the patients who attended AYUSH clinics at 4 selected PHCs of Puducherry over a period of one year. Personal Interviews using semi-structured pretested proforma was conducted for capturing information on socio-demographic variables, satisfaction regarding the facilities and health care providers. Telephonic interviews were conducted two weeks after the centre-based personal interviews, to assess the patients’ treatment satisfaction levels.Results: Out of the 584 patients interviewed, 71.23% rated as very good/excellent their interaction with the healthcare providers, with regards to satisfaction about the infrastructure facilities, the proportion rating very good/excellent ranged from 64.47% to 93.93% across the different AYUSH PHCs.Conclusions: Overall satisfaction about the quality of services and treatment was good among the patients.