Most recent issue published online in the Journal of Medical and Allied Sciences.

Medication errors are a major healthcare problem in today’s high-paced, multi-faceted healthcare environment. A well-designed change model coupled with good care givers engagement is the best way to bring positive and sustainable change to the system. The aim of this study was to assess whether implementing a combination of Kotter’s change model and Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership model will improve the self-reporting of medication errors (MEs) among physicians and/or nurses and to understand how physicians and nurses respond to Hersey and Blanchard’s behavior modification tool by analyzing ME self-reporting data trends, as determined at the end of the study. We have perused Kotter’s 8-stage change management model to roll out this behavioral change research study. Kotter suggested creating a sense of urgency to initiate change. To support the change, we used the recently released (March 2019) regulatory policy on ME reporting and disseminating, which created a need and urgency among team to imbibe the change and its acceptance. There were zero reports in the first month i.e. July 2019, which was a surprise and required further investigation. The second month (August 2019) noted three reports (one near miss and two self-reported MEs), which was a success in our research model. In the third month, two self-reported cases were noted and one medication error was reported. The current research study had created an opportunity to implement a unique combination of Kotter’s model and Hersey and Blanchard’s situational theory model, which was not attempted before, nor was cited in the literature. Hence, further studies are warranted on a larger scale to solidify our results and the effective use of our proposed model in a healthcare management set-up to remove medication errors reporting.

Here, we report a case of dermatomyositis following intradermal allergen testing. 50 year old lady had nasobronchial allergy of 2 years duration in form of nasal stuffiness, for which she underwent intradermal allergen testing. Followed this she develo…

Dietary supplementation (DS) is becoming common among athletes in developing countries. This study assessed the dietary supplement intake and associated awareness among athletes in the student community of University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. In this cross-sectional study, 162 athletes representing “strength and power” based 18 types of sports completed a self-administered questionnaire which consisted of three sections: demographic characteristics, DS intake and anti-doping awareness. The prevalence of DS use was 38.3% (n=162) and there was a significant relationship between supplement intake and gender (p=0.001). The results showed that protein and creatine supplements are more likely to be used by the athletes (12.3%) than other supplements. The athletes in wrestling were the most common supplement users (14.5%) than the other types of sports. Only 28.4% of athletes were aware on anti-doping and 96.3% from them were preferred to acquire the information from anti-doping agency. The prevalence of dietary supplement use was moderate among athletes in the student community of University of Peradeniya and was significantly associated with gender. Moreover, the current study highlights the need of enhancing the awareness and basic knowledge related to anti-doping agents among the University athletes in the student community in Sri Lanka.

This research was aimed at assessing the prevalence of rheumatoid factor (RF) in people of our locality to aid the inclusion of rheumatoid factor test for the diagnosis of the disease. Specifically, this research sought to: determine and compare the presence of rheumatoid factor in both young and old adults; find out which gender is more affected in our locality, and determine the uric acid levels in both symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects. The presence of rheumatoid factor in the se-rum of 100 subjects aged above 25 years in Calabar metropolis was determined using a Rheumatoid Factor rapid agglutination test. Six (6) out of eighty-two (82) males and two (2) out of eighteen (18) females were positive for rheumatoid factor, giving a total of eight (8) rheuma-toid factor +ve subjects. The mean age, body mass index (BMI) and serum uric acid (SUA) level for rheumatoid factor +ve subjects were 45.13±14.13 years, 26.69±2.23 kg/m2 and 10.02±6.78 mg/dl respec-tively while the mean age, BMI and SUA level for rheumatoid factor –ve were 37.57±5.76 years, 24.46±3.92 kg/m2, 7.04±3.88 mg/dl respectively. The mean age and serum uric acid level in rheumatoid factor +ve subjects were significantly higher (p˂0.05) when compared with rheu-matoid factor -ve subjects. The mean BMI for rheumatoid factor +ve subjects was also significantly higher (p˂0.05) when compared with rheumatoid factor -ve subjects. This research work shows that the prevalence of rheumatoid factor in this locality, though low, is higher than those studied in other countries. Women are more affected than men with rheumatoid arthritis. There is an increased level of serum uric acid in RF +ve and symptomatic subjects. Therefore, there is a need to introduce rheumatoid factor analysis in the medical laboratories for proper diagnosis and treatment of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis.

The term ‘latchkey children’ refers to unsupervised youngsters who care for themselves before or after school, on weekends, and during holidays while their parents work. The term self-care is additionally used to depict these kids. Children left alone for more than three hours often present with low self esteem, low academic efficacy and high levels of loneliness and depression, they are often not well adjusted and sometimes present with behavioral problems. A comparative study to correlate loneliness and behavioral problems between latchkey and non-latchkey children (age between 13-15 years) was conducted in selected schools at Mangaluru. Data regarding loneliness was collected from 15 latchkey and 45 non-latchkey children and data regarding behavioral problems was collected from their parents. UCLA loneliness scale and child behavior checklist 6-18 years was used for the same. Majority (80%) of the latchkey children felt severely lonely, whereas 71.1% of the non-latchkey felt moderately lonely. Most (93.3%) and 78.1% of the latchkey and non latchkey children experienced mild behavioral problems. There was a positive correlation between loneliness and behavioral problems in non-latchkey (r=0.184) and latchkey children (r=0.684). The loneliness between latchkey and non-latchkey children was found to be insignificant (t=0.00018). The behavioral problems between latchkey and non-latchkey children was found to be insignificant (t=0.23).

Sarcoidosis is a systemic disease of unknown etiology. It is characterized by the formation in all or several affected organs of epitheliod cell tubercles without caseation. Lupus pernio is a cutaneous manifestation of sarcoidosis. Tuberculosis is an i…

The study aimed to determine the effectiveness of Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) topical cream on induced second-degree burns in male albino mice by utilizing a randomized controlled trial experimental research design. The research subjects were assigned randomly into three (3) groups and each containing six (6) mice. Silver sulfadiazine was applied on Group 1 while Base cream was applied on Group 2, and five percent (5%) Bermuda grass topical cream was applied on the Group 3. All treatments were applied every twenty-four (24) hours thereafter while measurement of wound contraction began twenty-four (24) hours after the induction of the burn and every forty-eight (48) hours thereafter until the seventeenth day where complete wound contraction was observed. The study supported the potential of Bermuda grass as a possible alternative for Silver sulfadiazine in the treatment of burn injuries. This was demonstrated by a higher mean (%) wound contraction – 93.14±4.59, effect of five percent (5%) Bermuda grass topical cream against the mean percent (%) wound contraction effect of Silver sulfadiazine and Base cream – 78.77±8.98 and 89.38±4.24 respectively.