Knowledge and practices of bioethics - Need for periodic assessment and reinstatement for budding family physicians.

Objective: The study has been designed to assess the knowledge of ethics amongst young students and professionals, and practices of health care ethics among medical professionals in a government teaching hospital in India. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out at one of the teaching hospitals in Southern India with a sample size of 84 among fresh medical graduates, post-graduate trainees, and young consultants with work experience of 6 months to 8 years. The data were collected by means of a structured and validated questionnaire, and the questionnaire was administered before and after a lecture/seminar on ethical principles, and results were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: The maximum participants were in the age group of 20 to 24 years with 0-2 years of clinical experience. The basic awareness and practices before the workshop were quite less when compared to after the workshop which showed a very good improvement in the correct responses to the questions. The maximum change seen, reflected in curiosity to learn bioethics. The workshop was an eye-opener for many participants in terms of the Nuremberg Code and its origin. The ethics committee was an alien concept to many participants, and it was reflected in the response postworkshop. The students felt a strong need to discuss ethics and implement them postworkshop. The segment on attitudes in clinical practice showed an impact on autonomy and truth-telling (32% to 50%). The segment on ethical practices reflected a confused audience. The increase in sensitivity to police information, and the concept of error of judgment and negligence were positive. The fact that medical practitioners are legally bound to help accident victims showed a positive response. Conclusion: Based on the assessment of pre-and post-workshop, there is a strong need to stress the ethical principles and revision of these ideas from time to time. Workshops and interactive sessions are a good way for periodic assessment and reinstatement of these values in our research and clinical practice. Thus, these should be part of the curriculum across all educational institutions for budding primary care providers and family physicians.

A rare case of spontaneous heterotopic pregnancy with intrauterine gestational trophoblastic neoplasia and tubal ectopic pregnancy at a remote secondary care hospital.

A simultaneous presence of intrauterine and extrauterine gestation is called as heterotopic pregnancy (HP). The incidence of spontaneous HP is 1: 30000, which is very rare. In this case report, we are reporting a rare case of spontaneous HP in a 40-year-old lady with intrauterine gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) and ruptured tubal ectopic pregnancy in a remotely located secondary care hospital. The lesson learnt from our case report is that detection of intrauterine gestation does not rule out the possibility of the presence of ectopic pregnancy. Also, HP can occur without any obvious risk factors like in our case. It should be always kept in mind that HP can occur in any woman of reproductive age group. In the end, our patient was fortunate that she presented to us in a stable haemodynamic condition in spite of having ruptured tubal ectopic with spontaneous stoppage of bleeding from the ruptured tube. Hence, to achieve a great chance of favourable obstetric outcome, all treating doctors including family physicians should have a high index of suspicion to have accuracy in early diagnosis and treatment of a various variety of HP as these can occur with or without predisposing risk factors.

Intussusception - A common entity but seldom diagnosed (lesson learnt from case series for family physicians).

Intussusception is one of the common causes of acute abdomen in paediatric age bracket with ileocolic type being the most prevalent. This happens when a proximal segment of bowel (intussusceptum) telescopes into the lumen of the adjacent distal segment (intussuscepiens). Here we report six cases of intussusception in which five were in paediatric age group and one was adult. All children were admitted, resuscitated well, USG abdomen was done to confirm the diagnosis, written and informed consent for surgery and anaesthesia, was taken from parents. However, all were managed successfully by hydrostatic saline reduction under sedation. Only one child had recurrence after one year who was again treated conservatively. Adult case was managed by means of laparotomy by excision of benign polyp being the pathological lead point. We present this case series to analyse the spectrum of presentation, diagnostic and therapeutic options available with review of literature. Since primary care providers and family physicians are first responders, this case series would help them for differential diagnosis and prompt referrals for further management.