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BACKGROUND:The mental health status of medical students has been proven to be poor compared to their peers in other disciplines and has led to grave personal and professional consequences. This subject has however remained largely unexplored in our medical school.AIM:The study was therefore conducted to assess the prevalence of mental health of medical students in the University of Calabar, Cross river state, Nigeria.METHODOLOGY:A descriptive cross-sectional survey of 451 randomly selected medical students from the pre-clinical and clinical levels of study in the University of Calabar. A self administered questionnaire including the GHQ12 was used to elicit information from the respondents. A score of ≥ 3 suggested poor mental while a score < 3 represented good mental health. Data were summarized using proportions, and χ2 test was used to explore associations between categorical variables. Level of significance was set at p < 0.05.RESULTS:The mean age of the respondents was 23.4 ± 4.3 years, 63.8% were males, 34.8% were from the preclinical and 65.2% from clinical levels of study. Based on the GHQ categorisation, 39.2% had a poor mental health status, compared to 60.8% with good mental health status. The factors significantly associated with poor mental health, were recent experience of mistreatment by trainers or colleagues, perceived inadequate monthly allowance and perception that medical training is stressful (p < 0.05).CONCLUSION:With more than a third of undergraduate medical trainees with traits of poor mental health, provision of accessible mental health services/counselling is strongly recommended early in their training.

BACKGROUND:Rising trend in Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in developing countries often result in sudden death, which are largely preventable through effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Most communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, however, lack access to CPR services, due to a deficiency in requirements for the establishment of such services. These requirements can be grouped into a triad of awareness, infrastructure and capacity building.AIM:This study was aimed at assessing the perceived need and recommendations for improvement in CPR services in Cross River State.METHODS:Proportionate sampling was used to recruit healthcare workers in this cross-sectional study. Data was obtained using semi-structured open-ended questionnaire consisting of recommendations for improving CPR services. Responses were coded and grouped into three essential areas. Data were entered and analysed using SPSS version 20.0.RESULT:Two hundred and twenty-nine (229) questionnaires were completed; mean age of respondents was 42.1 ± 11.2 years. The commonest cadre of healthcare worker was nurses (135, 59.0%). One, two, and three areas of suggestions were made by 55.5%, 37.1%, and 7.4% of respondents, respectively. Suggestions included training of health care workers on CPR (111, 48.5%) and provision of resuscitation equipment (95, 41.5%). Sixty-five respondents (29.3%) recommended creating awareness and means of contact, while some respondents recommended capacity building (132, 57.6%) and resuscitation infrastructure set-up (149, 65.1%).CONCLUSION:Healthcare workers perceive an urgent need for the establishment of CPR services in our health facilities and communities. There is need to address the triad of awareness, infrastructure and capacity building for the establishment of CPR services peculiar to Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Joint replacement therapy (JRT) commonly performed in advanced countries is being introduced in some developing countries. The objective of this study was to assess anaesthesia used and the outcome of the first 17 cases performed at a young teaching hospital in Nigeria. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study of patients for JRT at Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, Nigeria from 23/6/2014 to 31/8/2016. Data analyzed from the anaesthetic/surgical records included age, sex, ethnicity, ASA classification, Ficat and Arlet classification of avascular necrosis, Gardens classification of fracture neck of femur, indication/type of surgery, packed cell volume (PCV), anaesthesia type, estimated blood loss, transfusions, duration of surgery and hospital stay, post-operative PCV, pain management, complications and surgical outcome. Results were summarised as means, median and percentages using SPSS version 21.0 for Windows®. One-way test of ANOVA was used for statistical significance (p= 0.05). Seventeen patients aged 27-90 years (mean 54.71±19.69). Indications were femoral neck fracture (47%), chronic osteoarthritis (35%), avascular necrosis (18%). The commonest procedure was hemiarthroplasty (41%), total hip replacement (35%), and total knee (24%). All were under regional anaesthesia with spinal (53%) and combined spinal-epidural (47%). Multimodal post-operative analgesia was used. There was no significant difference between pre and post-operative PCV (t = 0.708, p=0.05). Mean duration of hospital stay was 19.44±9.61 days. The outcome was good in all. JRT can be established in a new center with proper planning. Regional anaesthesia with multimodal analgesia is recommended. With relevant surgical skill, patient outcome is good.