Australasian Medical Journal
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Emergency Medical Services in Iran
Get PDFEmergency Medical Services (EMS) in Iran, named Emergency 115 was established in 1978 with cooperation from America. In Iran, EMS delivery is financed by the government and is free of charge to those served. Established standards call for a response time of less than eight minutes in cities and less than 15 minutes in suburban areas for 80% of the cases, and this standard has been met everywhere in the country except for Tehran (the capital of Iran). Emergency services coverage for traffic accidents has exceeded 52.3%. In recent years, the Foundation of Medical Emergency Schools has established emergency medicine training programs for both EMS personnel and the general public. Also, personnel of the Iran Medical Emergency and Accidents Management Organization are establishing the standards for hospital emergency procedures and providing oversight of the emergency departments in hospitals. Over all, pre-hospital emergency services have made notable advances, and they are continuing to improve
Writing for Publication
No full textA one-day workshop on scientific writing was held at KIST Medical College, Lalitpur, Nepal on Saturday, 27th February 2010. Topics covered were ‘Writing an original research article’, ‘Writing an abstract’, ‘Why articles are rejected – views from a reviewer’, ‘Tips for effective scientific writing’, ‘Writing a case report’ and ‘Journals where you can publish your work’. The various sections of an original research article are abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusion, acknowledgements, references and figures and tables. Let us now examine the first section of a paper, the abstract. An abstract can be regarded as an abbreviated and accurate representation of the paper contents. Abstracts can be unstructured, in IMRaD format (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion) or in an eight heading format. Key words help in indexing and retrieval.Common reasons why articles are rejected are that they are sent to the wrong journal, the article does not follow the word limits of the journal or is not prepared in accordance with the journal instructions, errors with presentation, grammar and language, problems with the theoretical framework, references to appropriate literature are lacking or there are serious methodological flaws. A narrative structure should link together various parts of the paper. Sentences should be short, written in active voice and address one thought at a time. Unnecessary words should be deleted and short and simple words used instead of long and complicated ones. While writing an original article most authors start with the Methods section and then write the Results. Ensure that the article conforms to the journal’s guidelines for authors. Plagiarism should be avoided and previous studies read, understood and then paraphrased in the writer’s own words.A case report, one of the forms of scientific writing is a carefully documented scientific observation useful for education, research, practice and self learning. The essential components of a case report are title, abstract, introduction, case presentation or description, discussion, conclusion and references
Letter to the Editor
No full textBackground Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is of the sight threatening ocular diseases having public health implications in India because an estimated 57 million people in India may be diabetic by 2025. This study highlights the prevalence of DR in type 2 diabetics among a small population in Chennai in relation to various risk factors. Method The cross sectional study was done on 203 patients, as a part of the monthly screening camp conducted by “Sankara Nethralaya , Chennai”, for the patients of Kilpauk Medical College Hospital. A detailed history including risk factors like age ,sex , duration of diabetes , smoking ,alcohol ,Ischaemic heart disease(IHD), Oral Hypoglycaemic Drugs(OHA) , Insulin was taken followed by measurement of blood pressure and examination of Eye including Visual acuity , Intraocular pressure , Anterior chamber examination and Optic Fundoscopy .Statistical analysis was done by SPSS using Binary logistics Regression method. ResultsOf the 203 patients, 146(71.9%) were females.136 (67%) people had awareness about DR. The prevalence rate of DR is 13.8% (28) in which Moderate NPDR had the maximum incidence with 5.9%. Prevalence is more in the 5th - 6th decades of life with 5.9% having DR. DR increases with the duration of diabetes. Men were at a slightly higher risk (14% males v/s 13.6% females) though not statistically significant. There was no increased risk among hypertensives, IHD patients, smokers, alcoholics and no significant relationship with treatment history. Conclusion Though the awareness about the disease of 67% is encouraging, incidence rate of 13.8% of diabetic retinopathy in a small population is alarming. Higher number of woman in the study could have influenced the results. This triggers the need for studies with higher sample size to assess various risk factors and mass screening programs. Word count: 287 Key Words Diabetic Retinopathy, prevalence, risk factors
Important Issues Around Food Safety And Nutrition
Get PDFBackground: The increased focus on the prevention of illness and the promotion of health and wellbeing creates new and exciting opportunities for health care professionals to engage with their patients. One such area of engagement is around food safety and nutrition, given the central importance of these to maintenance of health. In order to enhance meaningful engagement with patients, health care professionals need to be aware of the messages that their patients are currently receiving from the media about food safety and nutrition, and also the general awareness and perceptions of these issues within the lay populace. This paper presents an analysis of media stories and interviews with consumers.Method: Media stories were analysed for five Australian newspapers from January 2006 to June 30th 2008 for all articles relating to food and trust except letters to the editor. All articles were then subject to discourse analysis. In addition, interviews were undertaken with 47 participants.Results: The most prevalent media stories about regulatory strategies for addressing childhood obesity (16.7%, N=120 articles). Stories about the contamination of food, either by bacteria or foreign objects was the second most prevalent theme (14.9%, N=107), followed by stories about the regulation of GM food (13.9%, N=100 articles). The qualitative findings highlight the high levels of trust in the Australian food supply and food safety regulation, but low levels of trust in media reporting around food safety and diet. For some people, the media reporting lead to confusion around food safety and diet issues.Discussion: Confusion about, and rejection of, media messages about healthy eating have the potential to contribute to the development of chronic illness through a failure to adopt lifestyle changes. Furthermore, it may inhibit the seeking of appropriate information by people with chronic illness. Given a growing emphasis upon primary care and health literacy, health care professionals need to be aware of the messages that their patients receive
Mobility, Attitudes and HIV
No full textBackgroundMany Indian truck drivers tend to have multiple sexual partners, owing to the migratory nature of their occupation. Consequently there is a greater risk for them to pass on Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and HIV to their wives and other partners. This study endeavours to document the sexual behaviour and trends of condom usage, of truck drivers halting at Kalamboli Truck Terminal, Navi Mumbai.Method This community based, cross sectional study was conducted by interviewing 300 male truck drivers using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Data collected was compiled and analysed using Mean and Percentages.ResultsOf the 300 truck drivers interviewed, mean age of first sexual encounter was 19.4 years. 270 truck drivers had experienced sexual intercourse and 30 had not. Out of 270 sexually exposed truck drivers, 40.7% had sex with commercial sex workers (CSWs) only, 1.1% with other men only, 0.7% with Transsexuals only and 7.5% with other known females. 5.9% had sex with multiple categories. Premarital sex was reported in 70.25% truck drivers and 28.4% married truck drivers had extramarital sex. Of the Truck drivers having sex outside marriage, 53% used condoms regularly. Of the 47% truck drivers who reported irregular / no use of condoms, the main reasons given were “Did not like to use as it affects sexual pleasure” (40.8%) and ”Could not procure at spur of the moment” (36.7%).ConclusionOwing to the migratory nature of their occupation and high risk sexual behaviour, truck drivers form a high risk group for contracting and spreading HIV/AIDS and other STIs. Thus there is an urgent need for intensifying effective strategies to educate truck drivers and to change their perceptions regarding safe sex
Arecanut and Tobacco use Among School Children
Get PDFBackgroundAreca nut is the fourth most commonly used psychoactive substance in the world after caffeine, alcohol and nicotine. Its use is considered a benign and socially acceptable habit among most Indians. Like tobacco, chewing areca nut also leads to oral and oropharyngeal cancers. Chewing of these substances usually starts early in life leading to a multitude of problems in adulthood. This study was conducted among high school students to determine the prevalence and explore the awareness of health hazards associated with these substances.Method This cross sectional study was carried out in Vantamuri village, South India. All consenting school children of 7th, 8th and 9th class were interviewed individually using a pretested questionnaire about their chewing habits. This was followed by a thorough oral cavity examination for all.ResultsOut of 392 participants 62.5% were boys. Mean age of all participants was 14.8 ± 1.13 years. The prevalence of areca nut usage among boys and girls was 27.3% and 6.1% while it was 2.4% for gutka (contains tobacco) amongst boys. Majority of students started chewing between 13 and 14 years. About 49% of users were chewing these substances regularly for more than a year. Addictive tendencies were seen in two users. 43% of users chewed the same product used by their family members (
Diagnosing Ventilator Associated Pneumonia
No full textBackground Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is an important nosocomial infection among patients on mechanical ventilation. Modified clinical pulmonary infection score (CPIS) is used widely for diagnosis of VAP. There is a need for a non-invasive microbiological technique for diagnosis of VAP. Therefore, we performed a prospective study to determine the diagnostic value of semi-quantitative and quantitative cultures of endotracheal aspirates (EA) in VAP. Method During a period of 15 months from October 2006 to December 2007, a prospective observational cohort study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital. Semi-quantitative and quantitative cultures of EA were performed for patients with VAP. Results A total of 200 patients were prospectively evaluated, of whom 42 (21%) developed VAP. The semi-quantitative culture had 100% sensitivity, 58.2% specificity, 38.9% positive predictive value and 100% negative predictive value. Quantitative EA culture had 88.1% sensitivity, 84.2% specificity, 59.7% positive predictive value and 96.4% negative predictive value. The Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of quantitative EA cultures showed an area under the curve of 0.861 ± 0.034. ConclusionThe semi-quantitative EA culture had a good negative predictive value and therefore it may be useful for excluding VAP. The quantitative EA culture with a good sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values can be considered as an acceptable tool for diagnosis of VAP. In addition, the quantitative EA cultures can also guide the selection of appropriate antibiotics for treatment of VAP cases