ABSTRACT
The present study is about the effectiveness of online training methodologies being used in the various government training institutes, all across the country. Before COVID-19 pandemic almost 99% of the training and developmental activities were being conducted in the classrooms and technology was hardly being used, except for sending distance learning materials or for some evaluation requirements. Suddenly, lockdown happened and all public activities came to a halt. Changed circumstances demanded suitable changes in the administration to address the pressing needs of learning, while facilities for online instructions were in their initial stages in these institutions. How to respond to the learning needs of the employees, in the changed scenario became a moot question before the authorities. In the changed circumstances, when everybody was supposed to work from home, it was a challenge to train and motivate the employees to consider home as their office and discharge their daily duties. These training institutions rose to the occasion and started training activities with almost non-existent infrastructure and nearly untrained faculty members to handle this new mode of instruction. In the premier government training institutes, faculty members have to compulsorily attend Trainers Development Programs, organized by Department of Personnel & Training, Government of India. These training programs were conceptualized by the Thames Valley University, London in nineties, based on the principles of adult learning propagated by Malcolm Knowles and David Colbe. The study explores the challenges in incorporating these principles for imparting training, which were the guiding principles for designing the content in the offline mode. These principles of adult learning made the learning process more effective and enjoyable for the participants. The central theme of this study was to find out whether these principles could be used while imparting training and also how much effective such training programs were. Data was collected from faculty members posted in various government training institutes from all over the country through questionnaires. Data analysis has been done with the help of graphic representations. The outcome of the study shows that the technological infrastructures need to be upgraded in these institutes, in order to improve the effectiveness of online training programs. Out of six principles of adult learning, used earlier for imparting training, only the principles of relevance, involvement to some extent and learning by doing could be incorporated, However principles of use of all senses, self-directed learning and use of experiences of the participants for peer learning could not be utilized, in the absence of classroom environment. The study also indicates that trainers need to be trained further to make effective use of technology, as an overwhelming majority voted for bright future of blended learning. Online learning activities are going to exist in future along with the traditional classroom instructions and therefore contents need to be updated to incorporate principles of adult learnings for making them suitable for online instructions.
ABSTRACT
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic (World Health Organisation, 2020). As the events unfolded around the world, media became the first responders of information with newspapers taking the responsibility to provide detailed analysis. Taking into consideration the importance of newspapers in times of a public health emergency, this paper analyses the verbal-visual coverage of COVID -19 in two leading newspapers of India, i.e. Dainik Bhaskar and The Times of India. The period chosen was February 15, 2020 to March 25, 2020, because it considers the gradual process of COVID-19 spreading its tentacles in India and the public health response by the government. With the intercoder reliability score at 86.6%, the analysis of the coverage has been conducted with the help of Barbara And Geoff Westwood's criteria for analysis of health-related content viz. design, content categorization, orientation, and tone of news stories. Visual analysis has been conducted with the help of Claire Harison's theory of visual semiotics. The editions chosen for the analysis are city (Chandigarh) editions, yet the sample did not contain an area or community-specific impact of coronavirus. Results show that in the initial days, COVID-19 had to compete with other ongoing events in the country to find a place of importance in the coverage. However, as days go by, coverage effectively highlights the issue while bridging the gap between the government and people with the main aim of supporting the government's narrative. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background: In the unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic, majority of the outpatient departments have been closed including psychiatry community outreach clinics (COCs). The only way to reach out to these patients has been the newly evolved telemedicine services. Aim and Objectives: The aim of the study is to study the need and accessibility of telemedicine services among patients of COCs. Methodology: The case record files of patients who got them registered in the COCs during January to March 2020 were taken out and sociodemographic, clinical, and contact details were retrieved. A 12-item questionnaire was prepared to know the current status of these patients and information about need and accessibility of telemedicine service for mental health over phone. Results: A total of 78 patients were interviewed. Mean age of the respondents was 43.90 years. The most common clinical diagnoses were neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform disorders followed by substance use disorders, mood disorders, and schizophrenia, including other psychotic disorders. About two-third of the respondents reported that their condition worsened over a period of 4 months after closure of COCs, while one-fourth patients could not purchase medicines due to nonrenewal of prescription. Only 2.4% of the respondents were aware about the existing telemedicine services in the hospital and 100% of the respondents agreed to consult telemedicine services after imparting the information and scope of telemedicine services. Conclusion: Sudden closure of COCs led to worsening of mental health status of already registered patients in the clinics. There were poor knowledge and accessibility of telemedicine service by the respondents. Information, education, and communication about telemedicine services increase the feasibility, acceptability, and accessibility of services.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected every tenet of societies all across the world. The gruesome disease, which is primarily a respiratory illness, as is being unmasked with each passing day, has been reported to have a variety of presentations. Here, we report three such cases with atypical manifestation in COVID-19 who were managed in a resource-limited makeshift COVID-19 temporary hospital in Northern India. The dictum to avoid unnecessary exposure by restricting investigations or procedures that would not directly aid in management has been reiterated in this series of cases.
ABSTRACT
Background: In these desperate times when the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has caught the entire world off guard, we have very few evidence-based preventive measures currently available. Various preventive practices, which include both pharmacological interventions (PIs) and non-PIs (NPI), adopted by the health-care workers (HCWs) might play a crucial role in protecting them against COVID-19. This study aims to identify these preventive measures adopted by HCWs in a dedicated 1000-bedded temporary COVID-19 hospital in northern India, with HCWs coming from various parts of the country. Objectives: The objective was to study the various forms of preventive measures undertaken by HCWs and to calculate their prevalence. Methodology: This cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted in a population of HCWs in a 1000-bedded COVID-19 hospital in northern India. Results: Most HCWs included in the study were using multiple preventive measures not necessarily backed by evidence. In this study, 81.8% of the participants were using hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) prophylaxis. Nurses had the highest adherence to HCQ prophylaxis, however they were also the most concerned regarding side effects. Increase in the frequency of hand hygiene and bathing practices was seen in majority of the participants. HCWs were also found to practice various preventive measures such as Vitamin C supplements (37.8%), yoga (37.1%), and warm saline gargles (36.3%). Other less common methods noted were steam inhalation, amlaki, kaadha, tulsi drops, chyawanprash, and nasya. The Internet served as the main source of information. Conclusion: The role of various preventive practices in the setting of a novel infection needs to be studied further. With no dearth in information advocating various proven or unproven strategies available on the Internet, their use by both HCWs and general population is inevitable. This is irrespective of their job or educational profiles. Whether or not such practices are useful in our fight against COVID-19 is a question that can only be answered through further studies.