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Background: Personal protective equipment (PPE) limits the health care workers contact with all secretions or biological products. This study was planned to find gaps between use of PPE among the health care providers (HCPs). The objective of the study was to evaluate appropriate use of PPE among health care providers in tertiary centres Tamil Nadu.Methods: A cross sectional study was done during November 2014 to October 2015 in two tertiary health care institutions. All health care providers (Doctors, nurses and technicians) who had more than one year experience and gave informed consent were included. Data collected by pretested structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using SPSS 20v and summarized by descriptive statistics. Proportion and Chi-square was calculated at 5% α.Results: HCPs included in the study were 1060. Among them, there were 412(38.9%) doctors, 550 (51.9%) nurses and 98 (9.2%) technicians. Among 862 HCPs who work outside the operation theatre (OT) and ICU, appropriate uses of PPE were only 156 (18.1%). It was high among doctors 109 (31.5%) followed by nurses 39 (9.3%) and technicians 8 (8.2%) which was statistically significant p=0.0001. HCPs working in OT and ICU were 423 and 183 respectively. Among HCPs working in OT, appropriate use of gloves, mask, apron, gown and hair cover was 100%. But the use of goggles and shoe cover was very low. The reasons for inappropriate use of PPE was non availability 562 (78%) followed by not aware of the importance 77 (11%).Conclusions: The study showed inappropriate use and lack of adequate knowledge on infection control practices emphasizing that periodic re-training is needed.

Background: Health care workers are at risk of acquiring life threatening blood borne infections through needle stick and sharp injuries (NSSI) in their work place. This study was planned to highlight some important factors responsible for NSSI and possible measures to reduce it. The objective of the study was to assess the factors associated with NSSI and reasons for under-reporting. Methods: A cross sectional study was done during November 2014 to April 2015 in two tertiary health care institutions. All health care providers (Doctors, nurses and lab technicians) who had more than one year experience and gave informed consent were included. Data collected by pretested structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using SPSS 20v and summarized by descriptive statistics. Proportion and Chi-square was calculated at 5% α. Results: Among 950 health care providers (HCPS), 649 (68.3%) had NSSI during their carrier, 335 (35.3%) in last one year. Females 225 (67.2%) experienced more NSSI. This study shows that, 98 (29.3%) HCPs had sustained injury once. Among the doctors, 51.4% Anaesthetist (p=0.001) and its more among the nurses (38.4%) followed by doctors (36.6%) (p=0.002). NSSI was more common among HCP who work between 30-40 hrs (p=0.00001). Majority of them sustained injury while performing the procedure 134 (40%), commonest place of injury was OT 149 (44.5%) and commonest item responsible was hypodermic needle 141 (42.1%). Only 50 (14.9%) reported to the concerned authority and follow up action was taken. Conclusions: The study shows high prevalence of NSSI, emphasizing the need for safe measures for handling sharps to prevent transmission of infection.

Background: Today’s world has led students to mobile phone as a mode of communication and social networking. This also has bought about psychological dependency towards mobile phones which causes sleep deprivation and increased stress affecting them academically. However, very few studies were conducted among medical students. Hence, this study was attempted with an objective to assess the effect of mobile phone usage on sleep disturbance, stress and academic performance among under graduate medical students.Methods: An observational Study was conducted among under graduate medical students in KIMS, Tamil Nadu, during September to November 2016. Among first to final year students 203 were selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected after obtaining the consent using a self administered questionnaire, containing demographic details, variables on mobile usages, PSQI and PSS scales. Mean, median, standard deviation and percentages were calculated; Chi square test and correlation coefficient were calculated at 5% level of significance.Results: Among 203 study participants everyone had smart phones which were used for communication and social media. The hours of usage of mobile ranged from 5 minutes to 10 hours per day. Most of them (61%) used during night hours, 72.4% of the study participants had poor sleep quality, 66.5% had moderate stress, 14.8% had severe stress. There was significant association of poor sleep quality and academic performance with mobile phone usage (p<0.01).Conclusions: There is an association of mobile phone usage with sleep quality and academic performance.