Handwashing Practices in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Paediatric Intensive Care Unit and Neonatal Nurseries in Patan Hospital.

BACKGROUND: Hand hygiene has been identified as the single most important factor in minimising hospital acquired infections. However, compliance of handwashing guidelines has remained low. The aim of this study was to study the handwashing practices in the Paediatric and Neonatal intensive care units and Neonatal nurseries in Patan Hospital, and secondly to re-evaluate the improvement on compliance of handwashing guidelines after intervention. METHODS: Pre-intervention study was conducted by covertly observing the handwashing practices by the healthcare workers. The healthcare workers were then shown the video demonstrating correct methods of handwashing as recommended by World health organization. The cycle was completed by discretely re-observing the handwashing practices following intervention. RESULTS: Sixty five samples were collected initially. Only 6 (9.2%) had completed all steps of handwashing correctly. Post- intervention, 51 samples were collected, out of which 35 (68.6%) had correctly completed all the steps. Following audio-visual demonstration, 100% correctly completed 8/10 steps of handwashing with soap and water. 8 (16%) failed to dry hands using a single use towel and 14 (28%) failed to turn off the tap using elbow. Post- intervention, 100% correctly completed 4/7 steps of handwashing using chlorhexidine. Four (15%) still failed to rub backs of fingers to opposite palm, eight (30%) failed to palm to palm with fingers interlaced, and rub thumb to opposite palm. CONCLUSIONS: Compliance in hand hygiene is low despite the known fact that it reduces nosocomial infections. However, a simple intervention like video demonstration can improve the compliance among healthcare workers.

Functional food supplements to ameliorate the secondary complications in high fructose fed diabetic rats.

Functional foods are the most natural and safest source of health ingredients, providing health benefits beyond basic nutrition, and hence can be used as supplements for the prevention of secondary complications in diabetes. Persistent diabetes may cause glycation of various tissue proteins such as of those in lens, kidney, blood, and brain, which may further lead to the development of pathological conditions such as cataract and cardiovascular diseases. This study on adult rats was designed to assess if the functional food supplements A and B (proprietary blends of antioxidant rich plant materials) can reduce secondary complications such as cataract, dyslipidemia, and oxidative stress under severe diabetic conditions. After nine weeks of intervention of the supplements, it was found that the % HbA1c levels in the formulation group B significantly (p < 0.05) lowered (10.9%) followed by those in group A (11.1%) as compared to those in the diabetic fructose control (DFC) group (15.1%); moreover, plasma insulin levels were significantly (p < 0.01) improved in the formulation B group (9.8 mU L-1) as compared to those in the DFC group (8.5 mU L-1). The significantly higher level of plasma TEAC in group B (27.5 mg dL-1) (p < 0.02) and group A (26.6 mg dL-1) (p < 0.05) indicates an improved plasma antioxidants status as compared to that in DFC group (21.7 mg dL-1). Both the formulation groups A and B showed a decrease in AGEs and tryptophan fluorescence, which suggests amelioration of the glycation of lens proteins as compared to that in the DFC group. The present results indicate that the formulations A and B exhibit antiglycating and antioxidant potentials by inhibiting the high fructose-induced glycation in diabetic rats; hence, they may have therapeutic value as functional foods in the effective management of secondary complications associated with severe diabetic conditions.