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Introduction: Communicative skills in medical education are inadequately met. Research has shown that poor communication can contribute to improper diagnosis and lack of understanding of patient's problems, investigations, and treatment options. Poor communication can lead to poor compliance to treatment and dissatisfaction among patients Objective: Assessment of the improvement in the communication skills after the training programme workshop Method: The interns posted in the department of community medicine were pre-tested using Kalamazoo Essential Elements Communication Checklist (Adapted) [KEECCA] who then underwent focused training by the trained faculty members. Two weeks following completion of training, all participants were subjected to a post-test and comparison between the pre-test and post-test scores was done using Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test. The test was two sided and a p value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. In order to know the effect of sensitization programme, feedback of the students and the faculty members as the assessors was taken after the completion of the posting Results: On the application of wilcoxon signed rank test, it was found that the difference between the pre and post test scores of assessment on kalamazoo scale after the training of interns on communication skills was found to be statistically significant as the t-value was 4.072 with the pvalue less than 0.001 that is also highly statistically significant Conclusions: The incorporation of communication skills in the medical curriculum will not only improve the doctor patient relationship but also help in arriving at the proper diagnosis through improved skills
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Background: Cervical cancer is the most common cancer among females in India. It is also one of the major causes of deaths among them. Papanicolaou (Pap) cytological test helps in detecting the early epithelial abnormalities in cervical cells. The morbidity and mortality due to cervical cancer has come down in countries with well-established screening programmes at national level. This study was conducted to emphasize the value of cervical screening as a tool for early detection of non-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions of cervix. Slide positivity rate was computed and clinico-pathological correlation was done. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2012 to December 2014 (3 years), on 2202 women aged between 20-70 years coming for a Pap smear examination in a tertiary care hospital in Bareilly, India. After staining with conventional Papanicolaou technique, all cases were classified as per Bethesda nomenclature (2001). Results: Out of 2202 cases, 85.16% slides were found to be negative for intraepithelial abnormalities and 14.84% slides were labelled as positive for epithelial lesions. 97.67% of high grade lesions were found in women more than 40 years. Smears with epithelial cell abnormality were found more common in older age groups whereas smears negative for epithelial cell abnormality were found more common in young age groups. Conclusion: Pap test is a cost effective cancer screening and is a simple method to detect various lesions of cervix, non-neoplastic as well as neoplastic. High risk screening programmes should be directed to all women >40 years. Pap test is especially useful to diagnose precancerous lesions of cervix, thereby early detection of these lesions & subsequent proper treatment can be helpful in prevention of cervical cancer.
ABSTRACT
Despite of various nutritional health programmes, malnutrition among children remains the big health problem in India. Even after the universalization of ICDS, India has biggest burden of malnourished children in the world. Suboptimal utilization of services by mothers is a big challenge before all programmes. Utilization of services also depends upon the awareness regarding the service and its perceived usefulness among beneficiaries. Therefore, the present study was conducted to know the awareness about the growth chart and its determinants among rural mothers. Study was conducted on 186 mothers selected from three villages. Chi square test and F test were applied wherever necessary. Results showed low level of awareness (38.17%) among the mothers regarding growth charting. Majority of mothers reported peripheral health functionaries i.e. ASHA (36.62%) & Anganwari worker (39.44%) as source of information. Distance from Health facility did not affect the knowledge of mothers. However, socio economic status and educational level of mothers were significantly associated with presence of awareness among mothers.