Anice George

Physical growth parameters in thalassemic children

bdAbstractVarious growth parameters of 233 (140 boys, 93 girls) thalassemic children were compared with 74 (45 boys and 29 girls) non-thalassemic siblings, ICMR and NCHS norms. Weight and height were retarded in thalassemic children. The difference between thalassemic and nonthalassemic siblings, was evident from 9+ years in both boys and girls. Growth parameters seemed to be adversely affected with the advancing age. Among head, chest and mid arm circumferences, the mid arm circumference was more affected than head and chest circumferences. Height and weight were more severely retarded in children with hemoglobin levels of less than 8gm/dl. The findings seemed to suggest that press of retardation was probably secondary to chronic hypoxia and iron overload.

Concept mapping: a child health nursing practical exercise.

Concept mapping is a teaching-learning strategy that can be used to evaluate a nursing students ability to critically think in the clinical setting. Nursing students who are committed to patient care, seldom express the ideas of reasoning, and critical thinking in health team care. This article is a description of an educational innovation that utilizes concept mapping as a teaching strategy in the development of critical thinking skills among undergraduate nursing students. The purpose of this article was to prepare a child health nursing example for concept mapping in the educational programs of nursing students. The use of this teaching strategy includes shortening the wording and descriptions for each stage of evaluation to promote ease of use for the student in the growth of critical thinking skills.

Quality of Life of Family Caregivers of Patients with Advanced Cancer

Cancer is a major public health problem of the world. Diagnosis of cancer has a significant impact not only on patient, but also on Their family caregivers. Therefore cancer has a substantial impact on both patients and families.Objectives of the study were to assess the Quality of Life (QOL) among caregivers and to find the association between mean score of quality of life of family car egivers with selected variables. A cross sectional study was done among 399 family caregivers those who are providing care to the hospitalized patients with advanced cancer. A non probability purposive sampling was used to select family caregivers by using structu red and validated questionnaire on quality of life.Data were collected by interview technique from caregivers. Result shows that majority of family caregivers were in the age group of 20- 40yrs (53.6%), most of the family members had to stop working, and most of them lost their savings. Majority of the family caregivers expressed that ‘financial burden’ had negative influence on the quality of life. The mean Quality Of Life was 63.36 and SD was 15.73.The present study suggests that to improve QOL of car egivers, measures hould be taken to decrease the economic burden that cancer places on patient’s family. It also revealed that increasing the self- confidence of family care givers in managing cancer pain is vital to the quality of life of both the patient and caregiver.

Symptoms experienced by cancer patients and barriers to symptom management

Background: People living with cancer experience wide variety of symptoms. If symptoms are not managed well, it may hamper an individuals ability to continue his or her activities of daily life. Treatment of symptoms relieves suffering and improves the rate of recovery as well as the quality of life. Objectives: To assess the symptoms of suffering among cancer patients and to identify the perceived barriers to their symptom management. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 768 cancer patients selected by stratified sampling with a proportionate selection from each stratum. Data were collected from cancer patients by interview technique using structured validated questionnaire. Results: Majority of the samples (30.2%) belonged to the age group of 51–60 years, most of them were diagnosed with head and neck cancer (40.1%) and 57.7% had stage III disease. The majority of the patients studied had pain (77%), tiredness (96.5%), disturbed sleep (96.4%), weight loss (63.3%), and irritability (85.7%). Most of the patients had lack of appetite (89.4%), feeling of sadness (96.6%), worry (94.5%), and feeling of nervousness (82.8%). Majority of the patients had some misconception regarding symptoms, that is, increasing pain signifies disease progression (92.7%), medicine to control pain may weaken the immune system (89.9%) and pain is inevitable for cancer patients (78.5%). Seventy-seven percent of samples reported that the anxiety or depression is expected after the diagnosis of cancer. Conclusion: This study provides an overview of symptoms among cancer patients and barriers experienced by them.

Engel's Model as a Conceptual Framework in Nursing Research: Well-being and Disability of Patients With Migraine

Exploring, selecting, and utilizing an appropriate conceptual framework is a vital step in development of a research work. This article discusses the application of “Engels model on biopsychosocial well-being,” in exploring the relationship between biopsychosocial well-being and disability of patients with migraine headaches.

Effect of Preoperative Education on Postoperative Outcomes Among Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose: The objective of this review was to assess the effect of preoperative education on postoperative outcomes among patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Design: Systematic review and meta‐analysis. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was made on PubMed, CINAHL, Ovid, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science, and the Cochrane database between 1995 and 2015. Fourteen randomized controlled trials were included. Data analysis was performed with RevMan software and created the Supplementary Appendix using the GRADE approach. Findings: Meta‐analysis showed that preoperative education reduced anxiety scores (standardized mean difference = −0.96, 95% confidence interval: −1.37, −0.54; P < .0001). However, there was no significant effect of preoperative education on pain, depression, and length of hospital stay. There is low‐quality evidence, and reasons for downgrading are due to study design limitations, inconsistency, and imprecision of effect estimates. Conclusions: The results show that preoperative education can effectively decrease anxiety in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Quality of life among cancer patients

Introduction: Cancer is a leading cause of death. People living with cancer experience a variety of symptoms. Quality of life (QOL) is a major concern of patients with terminal cancer. Symptoms affect their QOL. Management of symptoms improves distress and QOL. Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the QOL among cancer patients. Materials and Methods: A survey was conducted among 768 cancer patients selected by a convenient sampling technique. Data was collected from cancer patients by interview technique using structured and validated interviewed schedule. Results: Out of 768 cancer patients, 30.2% patients were in the age group of 51–60 years, majority with head–and-neck cancer (40.1%), and 57.7% had stage III disease. QOL of majority of patients was influenced by their symptoms. 82.3% of them had low QOL scores. Conclusion: Cancer patients experienced many symptoms that affected their QOL. There is a need to develop interventions for effective management of symptoms that will empower the patients to have a greater sense of control over their illness and treatment and to improve the QOL.

Clinical profile and functional disability of patients with migraine

Background: Migraine is a common disabling primary headache disorder. Globally, migraine was ranked as the seventh highest cause of disability. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore the clinical profile and functional disability of patients with migraine. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the neurology outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in Karnataka. Materials and Methods: Using a consecutive sampling technique, 60 patients were recruited for the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: Majority of the participants were in the age group of 18–40 years with a mean age 35.22 years. There was a female preponderance with 70% of study participants being females. The various symptoms experienced by patients include throbbing pain (90%), photophobia (93.3%), phonophobia (85%), nausea (76.7%), and vomiting (41.7%). Most of the subjects (73.3%) under the study belonged to moderate to severe levels of functional disability. About 53.3% of patients were in the category of episodic migraine and 46.7% were in the category of chronic migraine. Conclusion: Migraine is associated with moderate to severe functional disability. Frequency of migraine has a positive correlation with the levels of disability/migraine disability assessment scores of migraineurs.

Development of secondary sex characteristics in multitransfused thalassemic children.

Secondary sex characteristics were evaluated in thalassemic children (41, boys and 30 girls), who were on regular transfusion therapy and were above 11 years of age. The results of this study indicate that the development of secondary sex characteristics in thalassemic children is markedly delayed as compared to their non-thalassemic siblings and to the expected development criteria. Delay in development of secondary sex characteristics appears to be secondary to chronic hypoxia and iron overload.

Effectiveness of an awareness programme on exclusive breastfeeding for the asha workers of Udupi district

The basic food for infant feeding is milk. Breastfeeding is the most natural way to feed the child. It offers nutrients and energy which are essential for the requirement during the first 6 months and it continuous to provide up to the 2 year of age. At the community level ASHA workers play vital role for the effective implementation MCH services at the grass root level. Their knowledge and skills on educating mothers on breastfeeding can prevent malnutrition among children. The study Objectives were to assess the knowledge of ASHA workers on exclusive breastfeeding, determine the effectiveness of an awareness programme on Knowledge regarding exclusive breastfeeding and to find the association between level of knowledge on exclusive breastfeeding and selected variables. Methodology: One group pretest posttest test design was adopted to achieve the objectives. The 86 ASHA workers were selected by purposive sampling techniques from four PHCs and 2 CHCs of Udupi taluk, Karnataka. After obtaining consent from study participants Knowledge questionnaire was administered and Awareness progamme was implemented in selected PHCs and CHCs. The posttest was conducted after 7 days. Results: About 66.6% of them were in the age group of 31-50 years, 64% of them had more than 5 years of Experience and 77% of ASHA workers reported they have undergone training on MCH service activities. In pretest mean knowledge score was 13. 6 and 17.4 during the posttest which shows there was a significant improvement in the knowledge score. Conclusion: The ASHA workers are having knowledge on the exclusive breastfeeding and need reinforcement which will help them in updating their knowledge and skills on feeding practices.