Communication is a vital element in the health care setup. National Patient Safety Goals 2018 proposed by The Joint Commission highlights the importance of communication among the caregivers. Breakdown in communication was the leading cause of sentinel events reported to the Joint Commission in the United States of America between 1995 and 2006. Majority of the errors can be prevented if the ‘Handoff or ‘handing over’ communication is up to the standard. A handoff is a transfer and acceptance of patient care responsibility achieved through effective communication. It is a realtime process of passing patient specific information from one caregiver to another or from one team of caregivers to another for the purpose of ensuring the continuity and safety of the patient’s care. Handoff process includes exchanging of information, transferring the responsibility of care and preparing the team to take over, and ensuring the continuity of care. Handoff need not be only during the change of shift, it can be even during stepping down or stepping up of a patient, transferring for any procedures, transferring between units, or facilities and discharge. The potential barriers in implementing the effective handoff communication includes resistance of caregivers to change, time constraints, cost constraints, low health literacy, poor staffing, cultural and language differences, failed leadership, and lack of information technology infrastructure. Nursing handoff can be enhanced by incorporating technology.

The demand for quality in care and improved health outcomes is on the rise due to increase in the complexity and diversity of health care needs. Nurses being in the frontline should be a critical thinkers in order to be a partner in clinical governance and decision making. The traditional teaching methods commonly practiced at colleges and universities provide students with theoretical knowledge and invariably fail to prepare them for keeping up with the clinical challenges in the health care. Various strategies are employed in nursing education to improve the critical thinking, knowledge and clinical practice. Concept mapping is an effective tool which enables them to understand the concept and think critically to handle the patient care issues. This article aims to provide a brief introduction of concept mapping and assesses the effect of concept mapping on knowledge of nurses and nursing students compared to conventional teaching methods. Pub Med-Medline database was used as search engine for literature review. Specific search strategy and key terms were used to search database. Six research studies, out of 20 reviews supported that concept mapping was better than conventional teaching methods. The review concludes that concept mapping is useful and more successful in stimulating critical thinking among nursing students. Concept mapping was found to be more effective than the conventional teaching method in increasing meaningful learning, encouraging them to connect current knowledge to their prior learning, and also provided an opportunity to gain further knowledge. It can be used as a clinical teaching-learning method to enhance critical thinking in nursing students.

Sweet Syndrome also known as Acute Febrile Neutrophilic Dermatosis is a skin disorder characterized by abrupt onset of tender, red-to-purple papules and nodules that coalesce to form plaques on the skin. Sweet Syndrome is uncommon but not rare. In general, Sweet Syndrome responds dramatically to oral corticosteroids and may improve or resolve with treatment of the underlying condition. Dermatosis generally resolves but may persist indefinitely in some patients and can be difficult to manage because of pain and skin breakdown. Recurrence of the syndrome is frequently encountered. This article outlines the disease process and its management. A case report is presented focusing on the nursing management of a patient with Sweet Syndrome using nursing process.

Occupational health is a growing concern in hospitals. Health care professionals are highly prone to develop occupational health disorders that include musculoskeletal disorders. De Quervain disease is one of the musculoskeletal disorder prevailing among health care providers. The cause is inflammation of a tendon that involves disruption of normal flexor tendon function in the hand. Factors contributing to this disorder are overuse like straining while writing, and long computer use and other repetitive tasks which involve the use of fingers and wrists. Breast feeding mothers and patients with history of arthritis and diabetes are at high risk for De Quervain disease. The outcome of the disorder depends on early diagnosis and treatment.

Asthma ranks as the 14^th disorder in the world in terms of the extent and duration of disability, with 14 % of children worldwide experiencing asthma symptoms. Both children and their families are at risk of impaired psychological functioning, well-being, and Quality of Life (QOL). A descriptive study was undertaken to assess the QOL of children with Asthma and their caregivers visiting the outpatient department of a tertiary care center in South India. Using consecutive sampling technique 77 children and 77 caregivers were recruited for the study. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire, designed by the investigator and was validated by experts. Analysis revealed that 65.9% and 54.5% of the children with Asthma had moderate quality of life among the 5-10 and 11-15 year old age groups respectively. Among the caregivers 64.9% had moderate QOL and 2.6% had poor QOL. Demographic variables such as living in urban locality (p=.03), male children (p=0.05), number of days absent in school (p=.01) were significantly associated with poor QOL among children between 11-15 years. A highly significant association was found between the QOL of children and the caregivers (p<.001). Every health professional should take active initiative in planning ongoing Asthma education which can improve the psychological functioning and QOL of both the child and the care giver.

Cardio Vascular Diseases (CVDs) are the number one cause of death globally: more people die annually from CVDs than from any other causes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Self Instructional Module (SIM) on knowledge regarding lifestyle changes to prevent heart diseases. A quantitative, pre experimental, one group pretest posttest design was selected for the study. The participants were 70 Information Technology (IT) professionals from selected IT companies in Bangalore. A non-probability convenience sampling technique was used to select the samples for the study. A structured knowledge questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants. The data obtained was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. In the pretest 17.1% of the respondents had inadequate knowledge, 54.3% had moderately adequate knowledge and 28.6% had adequate knowledge. In the post test all subjects (100%) had adequate knowledge. The ‘t’ test value was 16.31 which was found to be significant (p<.05). SIM was found to be effective in imparting knowledge regarding lifestyle changes to prevent heart diseases.

Childhood obesity is a serious public health problem and has reached epidemic proportions in most of the developed countries. India is not an exception to this trend. In this study, the perception about childhood obesity and overweight was assessed on a consecutive sample size of 105 obese and overweight children and their parents attending the out-patient department of tertiary hospital, using cross sectional design. A 10 item questionnaire developed by the researcher was used to collect data. The overall perception towards obesity and overweight was good in the majority (89.5%) of parents. Majority (85%) of obese and overweight children also showed good perception towards obesity. Recognition of obesity as a preventable health problem is paramount in the management of childhood obesity. Overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence have substantial and adverse long-term consequences for physical health. It is major responsibility of health care personnel to identify obesity and overweight in children and to teach about its harmful effects inorder to prevent its consequences.

The word statistics and the process of statistical analysis induce anxiety and fear in many researchers especially the students. Difficult and different terminologies, complex calculations and expectations of choosing the right statistics are often daunting. However, it is well recognized that statistics play a key role in health and human related research. As it is not possible to study every human being, a representative group of the population is selected in research studies involving humans. Statistical analysis assists in arriving at right conclusions which then promotes generalization or application of findings to the whole population of interest in the study. This article attempts to articulate some basic steps and processes involved in statistical analysis.

Stroke is a preventable health problem. If stroke has occurred and treatment is delivered on time, the risk of developing complications and disabilities can be minimized. The first responders and community should be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of stroke and seek medical help at the earliest. In addition, the tertiary care centres or hospitals which have dedicated stroke units must be equipped with facilities required to diagnose and provide treatment. The treatment for stroke depends on the type, co-morbidities, and time within which the intervention is done. Stroke causes varying degrees of impairment in mobility, sensory perception, cognition, and perfusion.

Headache disorders are a worldwide problem. It is the most common form of pain and a major reason for days missed at work or school as well as visits to the doctor. Headache among professionals can be disabling affecting their productivity at workplace. There is scarce data available to know the headache occurrence among health care workers particularly nurses. A cross-sectional study was done to assess the headache occurrence, experiences and management among nursing personnel working in neurology and polytrauma wards of a tertiary care centre in South India. Sixty nurses who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were selected by convenience sampling method. A self-reported, investigator prepared questionnaire was used for data collection. Majority of the nurses (85%) had headache 1- 4 times and 15% had more than 5 times in the preceding month. Among the subjects 75 % were able to tolerate the headache but 25% stated that headache was intolerable. It was identified that fatigue (15%) and inadequate sleep (48%) were the major triggers of headache. Among the subjects 40% used acetaminophen, 17% used pain balm and 26 % used combination of acetaminophen and pain balm for pain relief. Nursing is a profession that demands mental and physical etiquette for handling patient care activities. Therefore it is important to identify headache and its triggering factors to further prevent this distressing symptom.

The use of restraints in the management of violent patients dates back to the origin of Psychiatry. Despite its use, very little is studied about the impact of restraints on patients. This study was conducted to assess the perception on physical restraints and its relationship to psychopathology of patients with psychiatric disorder. Forty patients who needed restraints were selected using total enumeration sampling technique. Coercion Experience Scale was used to assess the perception of patients on physical restraints and positive and negative symptom scale was used to assess the severity of symptoms. Participants were interviewed after the termination of restraints. The findings revealed that 67.5% of patients were males. The diagnosis of 45% of the patients was Schizophrenia, 47.5% of them were restrained to prevent harm to others, and 87.5% were placed under four point restraints. The mean duration of restraints was 64.25 minutes. Subjective distress was high among 47.5% of the patients on physical restraints. Severity of symptoms was moderate among 87.5% of patients. There was a significant association between perception of physical restraints and religion of patients (p=0.039). Eliminating the use ofrestraints may not be possible, but it is possible to change the patients’ perception by providing patient centered, holistic, quality nursing care.

Diseases pertaining to the reproductive system of the women are becoming increasingly common because of modern ways of lifestyle. Modern women are forced to face higher level of stress as they are not only home makers, but are also working women. The first and foremost system in a female body to show systemic abnormal functioning under increased stress is the Endocrine system, which in turn affects the menstrual cycle. Thus menstrual abnormalities are becoming increasingly common among working women. A cross sectional study was under taken to assess the prevalence of gynecological problems and their effect on working women employed at selected industries of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. A structured questionnaire to assess the prevalence of gynecological problems and rating scale to assess their effects on their work performance was used for data collection. The women were selected by non-probability convenience sampling technique. Data were analyzed and interpreted based on descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings of the study revealed that 87% of women had dysmenorrhea, 86% had premenstrual syndrome, 72% had abnormal menstrual bleeding, 63% had genital infections. The mean percentage of effect of gynecological problems on working women was 56.13. The effect of these problems on their work performance were perceived to be moderate by 76%, severe by 16% and mild by 8% women. There were a significant association (p <.05) between the gynaecological problems and the selected socio-demographic variables.

Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) is one of the major causes of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. Although early detection of PIH is essential, knowledge on care and prevention of complications is utmost to prevent life threatening complications in the mother and child. This study was conducted with the aim to assess the knowledge of antenatal women regarding PIH. Using convenience sampling technique 100 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at a tertiary care centre in Chhattisgarh were included in the study. A structured interview schedule was used to collect data. The study findings revealed that about 14% of pregnant women had good knowledge, 55% had average knowledge, and 31% had poor knowledge regarding PIH. The study also revealed that there was a significant association of knowledge with education, occupation, family history of hypertension, family history of PIH and parity of pregnant women. Based on the findings, a health education leaflet was prepared covering the different aspects of pregnancy induced hypertension and given to the subjects.