Every personal bereavement hides an even larger tragedy as many lives could have been saved by just a single pledge to donate organs. The present study was conducted to emphasize this attitude among medical students who are the future hopes to improve the poor scenario of organ donation in our society. The aim of this study is to determine the awareness, perception and willingness for organ donation among the medical students. A cross-sectional study with purposive sampling was conducted in medical students of Basaveshwara Medical College, Chitradurga, Karnataka, India. After obtaining consent, information was collected by a self-administered questionnaire. Out of the 340 students, 46 % were male and 54 % were female. Awareness about organ donation was very good in 11.77 %, good in 75.29 % and poor in 12.94 %, with predominant source of information being the media/internet (40 %). Majority (86.76 %) knew that organ donation is legal in India. 75.29 % were aware of the shortage of organs. 97.65 % knew that kidney can be donated, 81 % knew cornea, liver and heart can be donated and only 32 % knew that lungs and pancreas can be donated. Positive perception towards organ donation was seen in 50.29 % and 68.82 % were ready to become organ donors. More willingness for organ donation was seen among females. Overall awareness about organ donation was good, but still fifty percent students had negative perception. Most of them knew about kidney donation, but not much of other organs like lungs and pancreas. Positive attitude towards organ donation could be enhanced among the students by including it in the medical curriculum so that it will also improve the perception of the entire community in the long run and slowly work up in narrowing the vast shortage of organs in India.

INTRODUCTION:Ten to thirty percent of the patients admitted to hospitals in India acquire nosocomial infections as against 5% in the developed world. The first and foremost principle of Universal Safety Precaution is "HANDWASHING". But the Health Care Workers often forget to wash their hands before interacting with the patient. Such contaminated hands plays major role in transmitting infections. HCWs are also at an increased risk of needle stick injuries. According to data from EPINet system, hospital workers incur approximately 30 needle stick injuries per 100 beds per year on average -an alarming figure by no exaggeration. (5) OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge and perception of HCWs towards hand hygiene and to know the incident of NSI and the factors associated with it. STUDY METHOD: Cross sectional study with purposive sampling was carried out in a tertiary care hospital. Out of 275 participants 55 were doctors, 143 nurses and 77 interns. Self administered questionnaire was used to collect information. RESULTS: Ninety one percent doctors, 86% interns and 81% nurses had good knowledge about hand hygiene. 73% doctors, 61% interns and 56% nurses knew the duration required for hand rub. The main hindrance for not practicing hand hygiene was due to lack of resources (37%). Knowledge about recapping of the needle was poor and incident of injury due to needle stick was 50% among nurses. CONCLUSIONS: Study demonstrated adequate knowledge regarding hand hygiene. The knowledge should be converted into practice. There is a need for educational programme about universal precautions especially about handling of the sharps.

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are noxious and unintended effects of a drug that occurs at doses normally used in humans. ADRs may also result in diminished quality of life, increased physician visits, hospitalizations, and even death. The objectives of this study are to analyze and assess the causality and severity of reported ADRs.Methods: A cross sectional study of ADRs reported to Pharmacovigilance cell of MNR Medical College and Hospital Sangareddy in a year. The details of the various ADRs were statistically analyzed to find out pattern of ADRs. The WHO-UMC causality category and Hartwig-Seigel Scale were used to assess causality and severity of ADRs respectively.Results: The study shows, out of 60 suspected ADRs, the majority of ADRs were adults (68.3%) and out of whom 56% were females. According to the WHO-UMC Causality categories, 43.3% of the ADRs were categorized under Probable/likely, followed by possible (35%). The Hartwig-Siegel severity assessment scale shows that the majority (90%) of suspected ADRs were of mild category.Conclusions: The pattern of ADRs reported in our study is comparable to other studies. The commonest organ system affected was gastrointestinal tract, nervous and cutaneous system. Antimicrobial agents were causing maximum ADRs and medicine and allied departments have more number of ADRs. This study provides a valuable database for ADRs due to all commonly used drugs at hospitals and also helps in creating awareness regarding safe & judicious use of drugs to prevent ADRs.

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