Community health nursing clinical teaching models practiced in undergraduate nursing programme at a private university in Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the perceptions and experiences of students and faculty about the modified community clinical model. METHODS: The descriptive qualitative study was conducted at a nationally-accredited Baccalaureate School of Nursing and Midwifery in Pakistan in November 2016, and comprised final year students enrolled in Advanced Concepts in Community Health Nursing course, and experienced community health nursing faculty members. Individual interviews were conducted with students while faculty members were requested to write out their reflections. On the basis of this data, codes and categories were identified which led to two broader themes; window of opportunities, and challenges in practice. RESULTS: Of the 17 subjects, 12 (70.6%) were students and 5(29.4%) were faculty members. All subjects were females. The window of opportunities theme had three categories: perceived comfort and safety; stakeholder's involvement and support; and open door for personal recognition and self-image. The challenges in practice theme had two categories: time consuming, and home visits. Faculty reflections highlighted the need for sustaining student-related activities within the communities. CONCLUSIONS: The findings are suggestive of a wide range of application of the modified clinical model at undergraduate nursing education level.

Implementing midwifery led care in Pakistan.

Pakistan's maternal and neonatal mortality rate compares unfavourably with the UK and much of the world (McIntyre 2010). The high rates of maternal and neonatal mortality in Pakistan are due to inadequate maternal, neonatal and child care, too few skilled birth attendants, insufficient competent midwives, ineffective and unaffordable basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric services. In this article, the introduction of the first midwifery led units in an urban hospital setting in Karachi, its rationale and projected future plans will be described.

Community-based screening of cervical cancer in a low prevalence area of India: a cross sectional study.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer of women in the world. The disease is amenable to various screening tests of which cytological screening by the Papanicolaou technique remains the mainstay for mass screening. The aim of the present study was to establish the prevalence of cervical cancer in a rural ethnically Muslim community in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India. For this, a community based screening for cancer cervix was conducted on married women aged 20-65 years. Following provision of information to promote awareness on Pap smear and its role in prevention of cervical cancer, 270 women were screened for cancer cervix by the conventional technique. Of the 270 subjects, the majority were married before 19 years of age (81.1%) and 42.5% delivered their first child within 1-2 years. Multiparity was seen to the tune of 51.3 %. There was no evidence of cervical dysplasia or cancer cervix among the screened population. Despite the presence of risk factors of high parity, early age of marriage and early childbirth after marriage, absence of cervical dysplasia and malignancy emphasizes the fact that socio-cultural factors, like absence of promiscuity and male circumcision, play an important role in the low prevalence of cancer cervix.