ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Undergraduate research in medicine is important to expose and encourage the students towards the newer advances and research practices. The present study was taken up in a medical institute to assess the perception of the medical faculty about research undertaken by the medical undergraduates, and identifying the barriers faced by them in training undergraduate students for research. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire on perceptions, barriers and limitations towards undergraduate research was distributed to 105 participants included in the study. The responses of the participants were collected on a five point Likert scale and analysed using spss version 11.5. RESULTS: There was a strong agreement among the faculty about students' interest in carrying out research (95.1%), and that they had gained knowledge to design, conduct, present and publish their research from the projects undertaken by them (90.2%). Among the barriers for training undergraduate research, time consumption was perceived as a barrier by the participating medical teachers (37.7%) followed by lack of motivation and commitment among students (19.7%). Time constraint was the commonest reason for the faculty in not guiding undergraduate research (39.0%). A larger proportion of medical teachers suggested that incentives for students and teachers (62.7%) and frequent workshops for students related to undergraduate research (61.8%) are likely to encourage the students and teachers and thus, improve the scenario. CONCLUSION: It is suggested to address certain important issues like reducing the workload of faculty engaged in undergraduate research, and conducting frequent research methodology workshops for the under graduate students to improvise the standards of undergraduate research.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: A blood transfusion is a life-saving procedure in many instances. An adequate supply of safe blood is ensured by exercising donor deferral criteria and screening for Transfusion Transmitted Infections (TTI). The aim of this paper is to study the profile of blood donors and reasons for donor deferral in coastal South India. METHOD: The study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Mangalore. All those who donated between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2008 were included in the study. Data was collected using a pre-tested semi-structured proforma and analysed using SPSS version 11.5. RESULTS: Most of the donors were under the age of 25 (42.92%). Donors were predominantly male (95.20%). In terms of occupation, most subjects were students (28.01%) followed by businessmen (18.61%). Slightly more than three-quarters of the donors (77.20%) were replacement donors. The main reasons for deferral were consumption of medication in the past 72 hours (15.15%), hypertension (13.18%), a low haemoglobin level (12.34%) and alcohol intake in the past 72 hours (12.20%). Among the TTIs identified, most samples were positive for Hepatitis B surface Antigen - HBsAg (0.87%) or tested positive for Anti-Hepatitis C (HCV antibodies (0.36%). CONCLUSION: From the study it was concluded that the majority of the donor population was young and educated. The reason for donation was mainly replacement rather than voluntary. This issue needs to be addressed by exercising proactive measures to increase the number of voluntary, nonremunerated, low-risk donors.