Background: Bangladesh is a highly populated country for that reasonCOVID-19 is highly transmittable infection in Bangladesh. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the nurses’ knowledge and practices regarding prevention and control of COVID-19 infection. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, Rajshahi, Bangladesh from April to July 2020. The questionnaires were completed and returned by the nurses. Collected data were checked, coded and transferred in to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Frequency, percentage, mean, SD, chi-squire and other statistics were calculated. Result: The knowledge and practices scores were categorized into good (≥80%), fair (59-79%), and poor. The result shows that majority of the respondents 83.4% were female and 16.6% were male. 0nly 8.68% took training on COVID-19. More than half of the respondents (52.11%) took information from social media and 7.89% from seminars and workshops. Nearly two third percent nurse’s possessed (73.42%) good knowledge about COVID-19and 17.63% had fair knowledge.73.42% nurses had good practices, 21.84% fair practices and8.68% poor practices. There is a significant relationship between Nurses’ knowledge and practices (p=0.01). Conclusion: In conclusion effective and appropriate health education and training programs improve COVID-19 knowledge and maintenance of safe practices. Safe practices lead to prevent spread of COVID-19 infection from patient to nurses and nurse to patient. Bangladesh Journal of Infectious Diseases, October 2020;7(suppl_2):S27-S33

Pressure ulcers have been labelled as one of the most expensive and physically debilitating complications in the 20th century. After cancer and heart diseases pressure ulcers are the third most expensive disorder. Several studies have indicated that nurses' knowledge and practices about pressure ulcer prevention and management are inadequate. This is a descriptive co-relational study aimed to assess nurses‟ knowledge and practices related to pressure ulcer prevention and management. It also examines the relationships between nurses‟ knowledge and practice with respect to pressure ulcer prevention and management. The subjects were nurses working at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. Three hundred nurses were selected for this study, two hundred and ninety four nurses were completed the questionnaire and response rate was 98%. Three tools were used for data collection: Demographic, Knowledge and Practice questionnaire. Data were analysed by descriptive and Pearson product-moment correlation statistics. The findings showed that nurses had a moderate level of knowledge and a moderate level of practice when we categorized the findings according to their age, working experience and educational level they scored low level of knowledge. There was a significant correlation was found between nurses knowledge and practice regarding pressure ulcer prevention and management (r =.136, p>.05). Findings of the present study suggest that nurses need to increase knowledge on pressure ulcer prevention and management in order to improve nursing practice in this. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. June 2020, 6(2): 237-243

Patient meals are an integral part of hospital treatment and crucial to aid recovery. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the Management of Dietary Services at National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital. The purpose of this study was to make provision for safe, clean, hygienic and nutritious diet for the indoor patient as per their caloric requirement. This study compiled from 1st January to 31st December 2017 and the sample size was 113(dietary personnel 9 and patients 104) and it was purposive sampling technique. Data were collected through semi-structured questionnaire and observational check-list. Data analysis was done using SPSS software version 20. Satisfaction level was categories in to Satisfied and Dissatisfied. Among the service receiver of this hospital 15.4% were found satisfied with the dietary services. Cleanliness status of kitchen was average. It was highly suggested that the higher number of trained manpower needs to be appointed in future as required. Moreover, a standardize cooking system should be adopted by the authority for improving the quality of cooking food in order to obtain increased patient’s satisfaction. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. September 2020, 6(3): 548-554

Infection control practice is one of the major task performed by health care worker to reduce health care-associated infections (HACIs) in hospital. Health care-associated infections (HACIs) are common causes of illness and mortality among hospitalized patients including healthcare workers. The study aimed to identify the infection control practices in a district hospital. A cross sectional study was conducted from January to December, 2019 in a district hospital, Jashore, Bangladesh. Two hundred and twelve (212) Healthcare workers were selected purposively from this hospital and interviewed with a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire. An observational check list was also used to observe the practices of that hospital. Among the healthcare workers 21 (9.9%) were doctor, 143 (67.5%) were nurse, 8 (3.8%) were technologist, 7 (3.3%) were aya, 13 (6.1%), were ward boy and 20 (9.4%) were cleaner. Collected data were checked, coded and transferred in to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Frequency, Percentage, Mean, SD, chi-square and other statistics were calculated. P-value less than 0.05 were set as statistically significant. The practices scores were categorized into good (≥80%), fair (59-79%), and poor (≤59%). The study found that overall of the respondents had fair practices regarding infection control. Among the doctors, nurse 7.3% had good practice, 51.8% had fair practice and 40.9% had poor practice. Among the supporting staffs 54.20% had Fair practice and 45.80% had Poor practice regarding infection control practices. Association between use of PPE with gender (p-.000) and with designation (p-.000) was evaluated and found highly significant relationship. Study findings suggest that in the existing infection control practices are often neglected and failed to protect healthcare workers and patients from hospital acquired infection. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. June 2020, 6(2): 321-327

Workload and job satisfaction are interrelated and have an impact on health care. A cross sectional study was conducted to assess the workload and job satisfaction among nurses in a tertiary level hospital, Rajshahi. Three hundred and eighty four Nurses were selected and interviewed with semi-structured questionnaire. Collected data were checked and transferred in to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Frequency, Percentage, Mean, SD and other statistics were calculated. In the study, 63.8 % of the respondents ages were within 21-30 years and majority (94.2%) was female. More than half 57.03% of the respondents had expressed low job satisfaction, 40.62% expressed moderate satisfaction and only 2.34% of nurses were highly satisfied with their job. About 25% respondent’s opinion regarding workload in surgical wards and 18% in medicine ward. In this study, nurse patient’s ratio in- pediatric medical unit was- 16:1, surgical unit- 15:1, medicine unit-14:1. About 96.9% got support from colleague, 88.5% respondents realize shortage of staff in that hospital. In this study near half of the nurses had not enough time to provide emotional support to the patient and almost 90% stated on shortage of staff nurses in the hospital. Fifty percent of the nurses expressed on excess workload and more than half of the nurses satisfied regarding nursing care given to the patients. Among the nurses 30% dissatisfied with the hospital work environment and overall job security. In this study, 88.5% respondent’s opined regarding shortage of staff nurses in that hospital. Health facilities requires increase of nursing personnel. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. June 2020, 6(2): 359-365