Perceived stress score among doctors serving at various government and private hospitals in Faisalabad.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the prevalence of stress among doctors serving at various public and private hospitals. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted at four public and private hospitals in Faisalabad, Pakistan, from July to December 2019, and comprised doctors with at least one year of professional service. Data was collected using the Perceived Stress Scale Questionnaire and was analysed using SPSS 20. RESULTS: Of the 162 respondents, 87(53.7%) were males and 75(46.3%) were females. The females had significantly higher (p<0.05) perceived stress scores compared to the males. Age, number of years in job, and number of children had negative correlation with stress scores (p<0.05). Stress was significantly low in doctors who managed to usually get time-out for relaxation (p<0.01) and in those doing private practice (p<0.05). The effect of doctor's marital status, type of specialty and residence was not significant (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Younger doctors, particularly females, in their early career were found to have higher perceived stress scores compared to their senior colleagues with more children and well-established private practice.

Comparing knowledge of diabetes mellitus among rural and urban diabetics.

A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the awareness of diabetes mellitus among rural and urban diabetics. After analyzing the awareness level of both populations, the urban diabetics were found to be more educated about diabetes. A 25-question survey was used to judge the awareness level of diabetes mellitus. A total of 240 diabetics were surveyed, 120 each from rural and urban areas. The mean awareness among the rural population was 13 (SD+/-2) correct answers out of a possible 25. Similarly, in the case of the urban diabetics the mean awareness was 18 (SD+/-2) correct answers. The survey was conducted on randomly chosen diabetics belonging to Lahore and Faisalabad, (urban areas), as well as Habibabad, Haveli Koranga and Baba Kanwal (rural areas). The results emphasize the interrelation between demography and awareness of diabetes mellitus. The rural diabetics are far less knowledgeable about diabetes mellitus, its management and its complications. Thus, there is an urgent need to improve the awareness level of diabetes mellitus in rural areas. Doing so will give rise to a healthier workforce and a lessened economic burden on Pakistan.