Objectives: Tobjective of this study is to assess the knowledge and to monitor medication adherence among tuberculosis (TB) patients.Methods: During the 6 months prospective interventional study, a data collection form was designed. The knowledge and adherence levels were assessed using quantified questionnaires. Patients were counseled using patient information leaflets and reassessed during follow-up. Results:Results were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Pearson's correlation. Key findings:Among the 65 patients who completed 3 reviews during 6-month follow-up study, there was a statistically significant improvement in medication adherence score from baseline in correspondence with the increase in knowledge baseline to first follow-up revealed a mean increase in medication adherence level of 2.723±1.625 (p<0.05) in correspondence with a mean increase in knowledge level 24.8±5.04 (p<0.05) which is statistically significant. First follow-up to second follow-up showed a mean increase in medication adherence of 1.400±1.072 (p<0.05) in correspondence with a mean increase in knowledge level 28.32±4.4 (p<0.05) which is statistically significant. Second to third follow-up showed a mean increase in medication adherence of 0.123±0.450 (p<0.05) in correspondence with a mean increase in knowledge level 34.18±2.74 (p<0.05) which is statistically significant. Conclusion:The efforts to improve awareness on TB patients such as providing patient counseling and education could enhance adherence to therapies and thus could improve outcomes and quality of life.

Objectives: (1) To determine the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern in pediatrics, (2) to identify the pattern of empirical antibiotic usage, (3) to determine the cost analysis of generic antibiotic usage pattern, (4) to assess the different dosage forms of antibiotics.Methods: A retrospective observational study was carried out. The study population included the medical records of children aged day 1-15 years with bacterial infection who got admitted in the pediatric department of the hospital. The average cost for each generic dosage form of antibiotic was calculated.Result: Among the 176 cases taken for the study, sepsis (35.8%) was found to be the most common disease. Bacterial infection showed gender predominance in males (62.5%) and occurrence of sepsis was highly found in age groups of 0-1 years (55.68%). Among the 14 causative organisms, methicillin-resistant coagulase negative staphylococci (61.93%) was predominant in Gram-positive and Escherichia coli (38.06%) for Gram-negative. Highly prescribed drug for empirical therapy was considered to be amikacin (39.20%). Widely prescribed antibiotics were amikacin (21%), ceftriaxone (15.1%), ampicillin (12.34%) and meropenem (9.57%), among which meropenem was found to be of high cost. Conclusion:It should be taken care that the drug should be given not only based on the sensitivity pattern but can also consider the economic affordability of the patient, with reference to existing brands from the formulary. This would help in reducing the burden of health-care cost for the patients.