National Journal of Health Sciences
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Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Regarding Blood Donation Among People From Various Areas in Karachi
No full textAbstract: Background: Over 90% of total blood transfused in Pakistan is donated by the friends and relatives of patients. The population of Karachi particularly healthy and active individuals can be a good source of quality blood if they are motivated and are willing to be voluntary blood donors. Therefore the objective of this study is to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices about blood donations among people of Karachi. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among people of Karachi from April 2015 to September 2015. A total of 300 people were interviewed with the help of structured questionnaire. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 20. Results: The study showed that the frequency of blood donation was significantly higher in males than females. In total, 273 of the participants have knowledge about blood donation whereas the remaining 27 participants were unaware. In total, 230 participants never donated blood. Regarding attitudes of participants, study showed that 31% participants think that they are weak, 23.7% told that it’s harmful, 23% told that they are diseased, and 23.3% told that they have a fear of getting sick/infected. Conclusion: Attitudes and performance regarding blood donation was less than satisfactory among the participants as compared to knowledge and awareness, this may be due to misconceptions, misbelieves and restrictions. An intensive campaign should be implemented to encourage public about blood donation to alleviate their fears and to change their perceptions
CNS Relapse in Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia: A Rare Occurrence
No full textABSTRACT: Acute Promyelocytic leukemia with central nervous system involvement is one of the rarest occurrences. A 25year old lady, admitted at Shifa International Hospital Islamabad, with complaints of menorrhagia, bruises, petechiae, headacheand vomiting. Her laboratory investigation showed patient being in disseminated intravascular coagulation. Complete bloodcounts and Bone marrow examination showed significant promyelocytes and blasts with flow cytometric analysis consistentwith acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). PCR for PML-RAR? detected, CSF examination and its cytology revealed promyelocytes. CT scan of brain showed slight leptomeningeal enhancement. CNS involvement was diagnosed based on the appearance of APL blasts in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). After treated with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), idarubicin, cytarabine and intrathecal methotrexate, she achieved morphological, molecular, and CNS remission. Patient was readmitted, 02 years later with complaints of headache, vomiting, right sided weakness and difficulty in speaking with suspicion of relapse. Lumber puncture was performed which showed many promyelocytes with Auer rods and diagnosis of CNS relapse of APL was made
Obstructive Sleep Apnea in General Surgery Patients: Is Screening Required Preoperatively?
No full textAbstract: Aim: To screen cases who are at high risk and low risk for obstructive sleep apnea in general surgery patients.
Materials & Methods: It is a cross-sectional study. It was done in Liaquat National Hospital from January 2019 to June 2019. After institutional approval, 335 patients were included in this study, who presented to general surgery OPD. STOP-BANG questionnaire was used to screen cases who are at high risk and low risk for obstructive sleep apnea in general surgery patients
Oral Spindle Cell Carcinoma –Diagnosis Based on Immunohistochemical Interpretation
No full textAbstract: Spindle Cell Carcinoma (SpCC) is a biphasic tumor. They are proven to be monoclonal dedifferentiated forms of conventional squamous carcinomas. It is a rare tumor which is infrequently observed in head, neck and in the aerodigestive tract. The tumor is aggressive and shows high frequency of recurrence and metastasis. It is an aggressive variant of squamous cell carcinoma which resembles a true sarcoma. It is a proliferation of spindle cells and squamous cells. For confirmation of diagnosis, immunohistochemistry is used. A Rare case of spindle cell squamous cell carcinoma in a 61 years old male in the tongue. The patient reported of rapidly growing lesion from six months with pain severe pain, dysphagia and difficulty in swallowing patient had history of chewing tobacco from past 35 years
Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome: An Exceptional Cause of Abdominal Pain
No full textAbstract: Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome (MALS) is caused by the compression of celiac artery by median arcuate ligament and may cause serious symptoms; such as abdominal pain and weight loss. Here we present a 56 year old man with MALS, whom suffered of postprandial abdominal pain, weight loss, nausea and vomiting. Laparoscopic surgery revealed his symptoms after MALS diagnosis was established. In conclusion, MALS should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with complaints of postprandial abdominal pain, nausea and weight loss. Laparoscopic surgery could be as successful as other treatment options in these patients
Covid-19 Vaccination: A Bird’s Eye View
No full textCovid-19 pandemic plagued this world since the beginning of 2020 AD. It is caused by a new positive-strand RNA virus of coronaviridae family [1]. It causes Coronavirus disease 2019 (hence the name COVID-19). It is a contagious disease predominantly causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, hence the name SARS-CoV-2. It started from Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Since then, it has spread globally.
It is reported to be a new virus therefore it’s properties, pathogenesis, virulence, immunogenicity, variants, and how will host body will react to this virus was unknown. Despite of 22 months since this virus started to spread worldwide, researchers and clinicians continued to learn about it on daily basis. Newer information about it poured in daily in scientific journals as well as in print / electronic media. Mostly, newer information continued to negate earlier information. Social media disinformation continued to confuse the masses
Knowledge and Attitude towards Infection Prevention at a Newly Established Hospital
No full textAbstract: Objective: Health care associated infections are those infections that patients acquire in hospitals during their treatment and health care workers are important source for it. The study was designed to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of Health care workers towards infection control.Materials & Methods: A cross sectional study conducted from December 2019 to February 2020 at NIBD & BMT. Approval was taken from NIBD Research Committee. A pre-designed questionnaire was given to staff that had given informed consent. The questionnaire was composed of two parts. The first part comprised of sociodemographic information and the second part comprising 37 questions of knowledge and 11 question of attitude. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 23. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for categorical variables and mean for quantitative data. Chi-square test was used for association with level of significance as P-value <0.05.
Results: A total of 82 health care professionals were interviewed. Out of which 49(60%) were male. The mean age of participants was 28.87 ± 6.4 years. Majority of staff had graduate or above graduate education 40(49%). The overall mean knowledge score was found below average with mean of 18.3±12.3. The mean knowledge scores between age groups (p=0.786), gender (p=0.760) and department (p=0.360) were not found significant. Knowledge score was significantly different among educations level (p= <0.001). 71% were found to have good attitude. Educational status was associated with attitude (p<0.001).Conclusion: Our findings revealed below average knowledge however, attitude was found satisfactory. It is the need of time to organize training and educational sessions in order to minimize the rate of infection for the betterment of health care professionals and patients
How can we Prove that Tumor Board is a Mandatory Component of High Quality Cancer Care?
No full textBefore embarking upon the first modality of cancer management, it is advisable to thoughrouly discuss the patients case in a site specific multidisciplinary tumor board meeting. These meetings are a necessary requirement for a high quality comprehensive cancer service. Published evidence reveals a positive relationship in the form of treatment outcomes. The outcomes are being measured in terms ofs of survival and local control of malignancies for patients who were discussed and deliberated nary tumour boards [1, 2]. These boards are vitally essential for the services offered in Low and Middle Income countries as we regard them as the lifeline for our cancer patients [3]
A Comparative Study: Knowledge and Practices amongst Post-Operative Patients Regarding Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) between Private and Public Tertiary Care Setup in Pakistan
No full textAbstract: Background: Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI) is a major global safety concern for the health system as it increases mortality, morbidity, and length of hospital stay and contributes to the economic burden. These infections are prevalent in hospitals of developing countries such as Pakistan, due to limited resources, unsafe infection control practices and under reporting. However, post-operative patients are more prone to these infections due to immunocompromised state, antibiotic resistance, and most importantly lack of awareness regarding HAIs and their respective preventive measures. Therefore, the objective of this study was to highlight some of the serious but avoidable aspects of this largely ignored but important issue of HAIs in public and private tertiary care hospitals by assessing and comparing the need of knowledge and awareness in post-operative patients to minimize risks which in turn will decrease incidence, morbidity and mortality
How to Encourage Establishment of Tumor Boards
No full textEstablishment of site specific Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) Tumor Boards is an endeavor which is being performed in the developing countries by individual specialists on voluntary basis. In Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) it is still not a mandatory system regulated phenomenon. Unlike centrally regulated healthcare systems, in developing countries we are taking this imperative task as a professional challenge which we are enduring on voluntary basis. This medical journal’s editorial board came up with this innovative idea of devoting a full page for academic work which is being performed for the education and implementation of multi-disciplinary culture in cancer care, notable the site specific tumor boards’ establishment and functioning and peer reviewed clinical practices