Patient’s expectations of privacy and confidentiality in Pakistan: a mixed-methods study

Author(s):  
Bushra Shirazi ◽  
Sualeha Shekhani

Abstract Privacy and confidentiality are considered a cornerstone in the practice of medical ethics. However, these notions may play out differently in the cultural context of Pakistan. In order to understand the perceptions and expectations of privacy and confidentiality, a cross-sectional mixed method study was undertaken in a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. While the subjects demonstrated unfamiliarity with the Western terms, majority of them also exhibited a high expectation for privacy (both informational and physical) and confidentiality. Patients appeared most comfortable with sharing private medical information with the primary physician, indicating the level of trust placed in the physician. Participants also showed high expectations for confidentiality, thus, even in a collectivist society, patients may not want their private information shared across the medical team and also among family members. The onus is, therefore, on healthcare professionals to assess patients’ preferences and choices. Keywords: Privacy, Confidentiality, Patient perception, Continuous...

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (233) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jyoti Tara Manandhar Shrestha ◽  
Dilip Kumar Kushwaha ◽  
Saurabh Tiwari ◽  
Pratigya Bhattarai

Introduction: Although appropriate self-medication can ease minor illness and is time and costeffective, it can lead to irrational drug use and increased resistance, leading to prolonged morbidity. Inclined towards medical information and drug indices, medical students have an open arena for self-medication practice. This study was conducted to find the prevalence of self-medication among first and seventh semester medical and dental students in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among medical and dental undergraduates from July 2020 to August 2020 after receiving ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Committee of Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences (IRC Approval Number:35/20). A questionnaire was responded to by participants through a google form. Participants were enrolled through the convenience sampling method. Data were collected and entered in Microsoft Excel and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25. Results: Out of 199 respondents, the prevalence of self-medication was 100 (50.3%) (46.76-53.84 at 95% Confidence Interval). First semester medical 36 (73.5%) and dental undergraduates 24 (80%) had higher practice. Seventh-semester medical students 14 (51.9%) usually self-medicated within one day of onset of symptoms. Headache 47 (47%) was the most common indication. Analgesics 62 (62%) were most commonly used drugs procured most commonly from pharmacies 114 (57.3%). Dosage form was drug selection criteria for 120 (60.3%) students. Conclusions: Since self-medication is crammed with serious health hazards, proper exposure to the topic should be given to medical, dental students, and pharmacists. The implication of selfmedication into the pharmacology syllabus is a must.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (05) ◽  
pp. 1017-1021
Author(s):  
Muhammad Umar Ghafoor ◽  
Rabia Arshed Usmani ◽  
Zaidan Idrees Choudhary ◽  
Shahbaz Ahmad ◽  
Aftab Nazir ◽  
...  

Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the frequency of postpartum depression in new mothers at a tertiary care hospital in Faisalabad and identify the factors associated with the condition. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Independent University Hospital, Faisalabad. Period: Over a period of three months from February 2018 to May 2018. Material & Methods: Included 213 subjects selected through nonprobability purposive sampling patients who had given birth in the last six months were included in the study. The Punjabi version of Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was used to assess for depression. Socio-demographic and medical information was collected on a pre-designed proforma. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23. Chi square test was applied to ascertain association. Results: Out of the total 213 participants, 33.8% (n=72) of the study sample were suffering from postnatal depression. The socio-demographic profile of the depressed patients showed that most of them were uneducated (84.72%), housewives (77.78%) living with extended families (68.06%). The difference in the number of depressed women among extended and nuclear families was found to be statistically significant (p-value of 0.004). The study also showed that women suffering from postpartum depression were less likely to breastfeed their babies (p-value 0.046). Conclusion: Postpartum depression was identified in more than one thirds of the females included in this study. This high number should raise an alarm for all health professionals. Detection through mandatory screening and early intervention can prevent the adverse consequences this disorder carries for the mother and the child.


Vacunas ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.M. AlGoraini ◽  
N.N. AlDujayn ◽  
M.A. AlRasheed ◽  
Y.E. Bashawri ◽  
S.S. Alsubaie ◽  
...  

Background: Epilepsy is fairly a frequent occurrence in the elderly. It is commonly diagnosed after the episode of two or more unprovoked seizures. Unprovoked seizures in elderly are recurrent rather than younger individuals. This study was designed to estimate the concrete burden of frequent causes of epilepsy. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study with a total of 153 patients diagnosed case of epilepsy were included in this study at Jinnah Medical College Hospital from February 2018-August 2018. Mean was calculated for age, duration of disease of the patients. Causes of epilepsy, gender, and education was calculated and presented as percentages. Electrolyte readings were taken i.e., Sodium, Calcium and Magnesium levels and imaging was planned to rule out stroke, primary neurodegenerative disorders and tumors. Post stratification Chi square test was applied and p-value less than or equal to 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The mean age of the patients was 63.91±5.68 years and mean duration of the disease was 4.61± 1.07 months. The common causes of epilepsy were found to be cerebrovascular disease 56.9%, cryptogenic 54.2%, neurodegenerative disorder 20.3%, traumatic head injury 11.8%, metabolic abnormalities or electrolyte disturbances 10.5% and brain tumor 7.8%. Conclusion: Elderly patients with first seizure should present to a facility designed in a way that neurologist, cardiologist, rehabilitation and geriatrics work together to identify and treat the condition in a better way. Keywords: Epilepsy; Seizures; Cerebrovascular Disease; Neurodegenerative Disorder.


Author(s):  
Sarwat Memon

Background: The palatal rugae are special constructions that are inalterable in their position and pattern during the lifestyles of an individual. This imparts them an exceptional role in the forensic dentistry and may play potential role in malocclusion identification. This study was aimed to see association of rugae pattern with sagittal skeletal malocclusion in orthodontic patients visiting tertiary care hospital. Methods: This cross-sectional examination was completed on pretreatment records (lateral Cephalometric radiographs and maxillary dental casts) of 384 subjects at the orthodontic department of Ziauddin Dental Hospital, Karachi. The study duration was from January to July 2019. The samples were sub-divided into three sagittal skeletal groups based on ANB angle proposed by Steiner’s on lateral Cephalometric radiographs (Class I with ANB angle between 0° to 4°; Class II: ANB angle greater than 5°; Class III: ANB angle less than 0°). The shapes of three most-anterior primary rugae were then evaluated bilaterally using Kapali et al., Classification. Chi Square test was applied to find association of rugae pattern among sagittal skeletal malocclusions groups. Results: Circular and curved rugae shapes were the most prevalent in all skeletal malocclusions. The primary palatal rugae pattern was seen to be significantly different among three skeletal malocclusion groups (p<0.05). The right and left sided palatal rugae pattern showed significant difference in all three skeletal malocclusion groups (p<0.05). Conclusion: The present study showed no specific palatal rugae pattern associated with sagittal skeletal malocclusion. Further studies on larger sample and use of modern 3D technologies to scan the maxillary casts are required for results that are more precise.


Author(s):  
Nandini Chatterjee ◽  
Supratick Chakraborty ◽  
Mainak Mukhopadhyay ◽  
Sinjon Ghosh ◽  
Bikramjit Barkandaj ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (05) ◽  
pp. 5373
Author(s):  
Prabha Ponnusamy* ◽  
Radhika Katragadda ◽  
Thyagarajan Ravinder

Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB), most common during pregnancy is endangering as it may lead to maternal and fetal complications. Various organisms causing ASB combats the host defense mechanisms through virulence factors exhibited by them. In order to understand the pathogenesis and sequelae of infections, virulence factors like hemolysin production, gelatinase production, haemagglutination, biofilm production and many more should be identified. Hence, we aimed at studying the distribution of virulence factors among each organism causing asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnant females attending a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Department of Microbiology over a period of one year and six months (January 2014 to June 2015) at a tertiary care teaching hospital. A total of 1000 urine samples were included in study taken from pregnant women with asymptomatic bacteriuria. Isolation, identification of organisms was done according to standard microbiological techniques and virulence factors for individual organisms by phenotypic method were tested. Results: Out of 1000 samples screened for ASB, organisms were isolated in following frequency distribution: Escherichia coli, the commonest 54/118 (45.76%), Klebsiella pneumoniae 21/118 (17.80%), Staphylococcus aureus 19/118 (16.10%), Staphylococcus saprophyticus 10/118 (8.45%), Enterococcus faecalis 9/118 (7.63%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa 3/118 (2.54%) and Proteus mirabilis 2/118 (1.69%). Virulence factors for individual organisms and biofilm detection for all organisms were done. Conclusion: Multifactorial mechanisms determine the pathogenicity of an organism and it needs to be explored by analyzing each virulence factor and mechanism of invasion in combating the host defense systems. Hence analyzing the phenotypic expression of each virulence factor helps in better understanding about the complications of ASB.


Author(s):  
Vanajakshamma Velam ◽  
Vyshnavi Kancherla ◽  
Latheef Kasala ◽  
Anusha Kancherla ◽  
Mounica Reddy Pillaram

Abstract Background This study was an attempt to assess and compare the gender-wise lifestyle patterns and well-being status among the employees of a tertiary care teaching hospital. Material and Methods This is a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study conducted at a tertiary care hospital between May and August 2019. A total of 777 employees belonging to both genders (male and female) and working at different professional levels were assessed. All the enrolled employees were subjected to a comprehensive study tool consisting of various dimensions of their health, which included physical, mental, social, spiritual and intellectual health dimensions. Results Among the participants, 327 (42.1%) were male and 450 (57.9%) were female. There was no significant difference in the mean age of male (37.91 ± 7.52) and female (36.85 ± 8.16) employees (p = 0.07). A significantly higher proportion of diabetes and hypertension were seen in male employees (9.8% and 14.4%, respectively) than in female (5.6% and 6.2% respectively). The overall well-being was better in male employees than in females and was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). We found that male employees had statistically significant better well-being in terms of physical, mental and social health whereas female employees had intellectual health. Conclusion The overall well-being in healthcare staff was good at our tertiary care hospital, and the outstanding/good well-being rate was higher in male employees than in female employees. Female employees experienced risks with regard to their physical health.


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