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Introduction: Occupational stress is a health hazard to the individual worker both physically and psychologically. Research for the past years shows that, signs of occupational stress appear to be rising amongst nursing profession. The ability of nurses to appropriately handle stress while on duty may have a significant impact on individual outcomes, especially job performance. Objective: This study was conducted to measure the work-related stress and its association with the job performance among nurses. Methods: A pilot study was done and prevalence of work related stress was 13 % on the basis of which sample size was calculated which was 102 (in open epi). The 102 nurses were selected randomly from a tertiary care teaching hospital of Surendranagar district. The data was collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire which included questionnaires on demographic variables, level of work stress and job performance. Results: The findings of the study revealed that moderate and severe level of work stress was present in 53% and 45% of nurses respectively. The mean job stress score was found to be higher among younger nurses than those of more than 40 years. There was a negative relationship between job stress and job performance (r = −0.01) among staff nurses. Conclusion: Based on study findings, it was concluded that all the nurses were suffering from mild to severe level of work stress. and it was negatively correlated with the job performance of the nurses. Hence, it is recommended that corrective measures may be planned by the authority to reduce the work stress of nurses to improve the job performance.

Introduction Ludwig's angina is cellulitis of submandibular space, submental space, and sublingual space. The main causative factors include dental infections (dental caries with atypical periodontitis, pericoronitis, and dental procedures). Other predisposing conditions include poor dental hygiene, dental caries, malnutrition, diabetes mellitus, AIDS, and various other immunocompromised states. It presents as an acute onset and spreads very rapidly causing bilateral diffuse neck swelling, edema of floor of mouth, pain, fever, trismus, foul-smelling pus discharge, difficulty in swallowing, airway edema, and tongue displacement creating a compromised airway with stridor. So it requires early diagnosis and aggressive management. Material and methods Clinical data of all patients with clinical diagnosis of Ludwig's angina managed at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Sir Takhatsinhji (T) General Hospital and Government Medical College, Bhavnagar, India, from 2015 to 2019 were analyzed retrospectively in this study. Result Over the review period, 30 cases were diagnosed as Ludwig's angina, out of which 12 (40%) were males and 18 (60%) were females; male to female ratio was 1:1.5. The age of the patients ranged from six months to 64 years, with a mean age of 38.86 years. Fever, neck swelling, and neck pain were present in all patients. In 16 patients, incision and drainage were done under general anesthesia while the rest five patients required only local anesthesia. In six patients (20%), for maintenance of airway, tracheostomy was required. The most common complication was necrotizing fasciitis and death followed by septicemia. Mortality was observed in three patients (10%) in this study. Conclusion Despite improved outcomes compare to pre-antibiotic era, Ludwig's angina still remains a potentially life-threatening disease in ENT at present. Dental caries, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, and malnutrition are commonly associated conditions. With early diagnosis, close airway observation, aggressive intravenous antibiotic treatment, and timely surgical intervention, morbidity, and mortality can be reduced.

Introduction: The nursing profession is known to be stressful throughout the world. It contributes to various physical and psychological health problems in nurses, which ultimately influencing on their performance and efficiency of work. Objective: To measure the level of job stress among nurses and to find out its relationship with demographic variables and working pattern. Methods: Study was done among 102 nurses in a tertiary care hospital of Surendranagar district from February to March 2020. The level of job stress was measured by a set of 14 questions which are directly related to job stress and response was collected on a five-point Likert Scale. Results: This study revealed, moderate and severe level of job stress among 53% and 45% of nurses respectively. The job stress had no statistically significant association with demographic variables like age and gender. However, job stress had an inverse correlation with the factors like work experience, shift timings and working hours. Conclusion: All the study participants were suffering from mild to severe level of job stress. Younger age group and female nurses were commonly affected with job stress. Work stress was also found more prevalent in nurses with lesser experience, rotational shift and more working hours.

Background: IMNCI guidelines are a simplified system of diagnosis and treatment designed for the use by health worker with limited training. The aim and objectives of the study was to study the level of awareness about the concept of IMNCI amongst trained AWWs and to assess the extent of knowledge and skills of the AWWs regarding the management after the training. Methods: A cross sectional study conducted from August 2012 to January 2013. After enlisting all talukas of Surendranagar district, 5 talukas were selected through simple random sampling. Out of total 833 AWWs of these 5 talukas 774 were interviewed at monthly taluka meeting. Results: Most of the anganwadi workers were of the age group 31 to 50 years and majority of them were educated up to secondary level (49.49%). Half of the respondents (57.37%) answered correctly about objectives of IMNCI. More than half (55.5%) of the respondents did not know the assessment criteria of diarrheal illness. Only 3.3% respondents knew that only in drawing of chest is a clinical feature of pneumonia. Nearly one third of the respondents i.e., 32.5% could be able to list out all the clinical features of malaria. Only 8.8% of the respondents could be able to identify grade 1 malnutrition. Only about 30.9% of the respondents correctly identified anemia in child using standard IMNCI guidelines. Conclusions: There are many lacunae in the knowledge of AWWs in the various perspective of IMNCI; there is need for refresher course within short time period to sustain the knowledge of AWWs for success of IMNCI program.

Background: Medical termination of pregnancy is defined as “willful termination of pregnancy before the age of viability of the foetus. The objective was to study the socio-demographic & obstetric profile and the reasons for procuring an abortion & choice of health care provider. Methods: A Cross-sectional study was done in urban slum in Jamnagar municipal corporation area by using 30 clusters sampling technique. Every women in the reproductive age group (15-49 years) was included in the study till the sample size of 15 was completed in each cluster and thus total 450 women were interviewed . 48 women out of the total of 450 ever married women in the reproductive age group who had ever undergone induced abortion were studied in detail Results: In the present study out of 450 eligible women, 48 (10.67%) had undergone an induced abortion and once only. 72.91% (35/48) of the women belonged to the age group 25-34 years and 89.59% (43/48) of the women were Hindus. Almost half of the total women (45.83%) had primary education, higher proportion of women were housewife 77.09% (37/48). According to Modified Prasad’s classification, 54.17 % of women belonged to lower social class (IV and V). One third (33.33%) of the women who underwent MTP had 1 living child. Majority 79.16% of the women preferred government hospital and in 45.83% cases both husband and wife acted as decision maker for MTP. Most common reason given for terminating the pregnancy was “birth spacing”. (52.09%) Other reasons given were, “family completed” (22.91%), “medical” (14.58%) & social (4.17%). Majority of the women (70.83%) accepted post abortion contraception. Conclusion: There is need to counsel women of reproductive age group that MTP is not a way to control unwanted birth and it is not free from risk. They should be motivated for various methods of contraception.

Background: Today, integrated child development services (ICDS) represents one of the world’s largest programs for early childhood development. Most of the evaluation study concentrated on the nutritional and health status of the beneficiaries of ICDS. Less focus has been shifted over to assess the knowledge and awareness among Anganwadi worker (AWW) regarding various health-care services provided by them, who are actually the main resource person. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to study the educational qualification of AWWs and to assess the knowledge and practice of AWWs regarding various components of implementation of Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMNCI) and correlate them with their educational status. Materials and Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional study conducted in five Talukas of Surendranagar district from August 2012 to January 2013. Sample size included all AWWs of five Talukas of Surendranagar district those who had received basic IMNCI training. Of 833 AWWs, 774 were interviewed. Results: The analysis shows that majority of AWWs were educated up to secondary level (49.49%). 57.4% of AWWs were able to correctly answer about the aims of IMNCI training. Study findings suggest that majority of AWWs having good knowledge about breastfeeding and pneumonia, while their practice related to health-care services regarding IMNCI was found satisfactory. Conclusion: As the AWWs are the key person in the program, her education level and knowledge regarding various health-care services play an important role related to her performance. In addition, the refresher training about IMNCI plays a valuable role in improving their performance.

Background: These days youngsters are consuming more carbonated drinks, which contains high sugar and associated with various adverse health effects. Objective: To study knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) regarding consumption of carbonated drinks among medical students. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out to access the KAP of medical students about carbonated drinks. All medical students studying in C.U. Shah Medical College and Hospital situated in Surendranagar, Gujarat were included in the study. Self-structured pretested questionnaire was used for collection of data. Out of 500 students 354 students participated for the study. Result: Out of all students, 282(79.66%) students revealed that they had started carbonated drinks at

Background: Nowadays, even though increased facilities are being provided for family planning program in all the sections of the society, the factors such as age at marriage, education, economic status, religion, and number of living children prevail, which play an important role in adopting it. Objective: To understand the various factors affecting family planning practices among eligible couples in urban slums—an underprivileged indigenous community in Jamnagar, Gujarat. Materials and Methods: In this study, 450 women of reproductive age (15–49 years) residing in urban slum areas were interviewed, and slum areas of the city were selected by using the 30 cluster sampling technique. The association between the variables was assessed by using X2-test, and analysis was done by the use of SPSS software, version 17, and Microsoft Excel, 2013. Result: Majority of the women (95.11%) were aware about contraceptive methods. Effective couple protection rate in this study was found to be 66.44%, which is higher than the Gujarat state figure [i.e., 56.5% (NFHS-III)]. Among both modern and traditional methods, female sterilization ranked first. Of the total subjects, 35.79% of women had preferred this method—almost similar to the Gujarat state figure. On the other hand, the prevalence of male sterilization methods was comparatively higher than that of the state level. The acceptance rate of contraceptives was higher among women aged ≥30 years and high literacy status of women, while nonacceptance rate of contraceptives was found much higher among women who had a low socioeconomic status and more number of children. Major sources of information about family planning were health worker (68.88%), husband (68.46%), television (42.06%), and doctor/health worker (35.75%). The leading motivators for family planning in women were health professionals in 66.89% women. Conclusion: This study highlights the need for a constant interaction of health functionaries with the eligible couple for boosting family planning program. All the efforts to strengthen and raise the female literacy should be done such as strengthening behavior change communication (BCC) activities within health department and nonhealth department; improving knowledge, attitude, and practice in the community toward family planning practices.

Background: Patient satisfaction is deemed to be one of the important factors which determine the success of health care facility. The real challenge is not getting ready with mere requirements, but also delivers services ensuring good quality. Thus, there is a need to assess the health care systems regarding patient satisfaction as often as possible. Aims & Objective: To measure the patients’ satisfaction towards health care services. Material and Methods: A randomly selected 100 patients were interviewed by using pre-structured questionnaires at the end of their O.P.D. visits for 5 days from 16th- 20th January, 2012 at Civil Hospital, Surendranagar. While analysing, they were grouped into categories like availability of services, clinical care, waiting time and cost. Results: The overall opinion about the efficiency of hospital was satisfactory in 92% of patients. 68% respondents said that the time of coming to hospital and consulted by doctor was too long. Although in 75% of patients the time devoted by doctor was only between 0-5 min., the communication and explanation of disease by doctors were found satisfactory in 80% and 91% respectively. The need of investigations was necessary as per 90% of patients. Time required to locate and get medicines from pharmacy was satisfactory in nearby all patients. Conclusion: According to patient’s opinion, the study revealed that the degree of satisfaction was mild to moderate with respect to waiting time and availability of specialist in the hospital, which need to be further explored and corrected