BackgroundHepatitis B is a dreadful infectious disease and a major global health problem. Health-care workers including clinical students are more vulnerable to such infections and non-sterile occupational exposures as their daily activities are closely related to patient’s blood and body fluids.MethodsA descriptive cross sectional study was conducted at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS), Dharan, Nepal from July till October 2012. All medical, dental and nursing students were surveyed for their Hepatitis B vaccination status and only those students in clinical rotations were surveyed for the prevalence and pattern of Needle-stick and Sharps-related Injuries (NSSIs) using a pre-tested, semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze the data.ResultsMajority (86.5%) of students were vaccinated against Hepatitis B of which 83.7% had completed full doses. Among non-vaccinated students, 43.2% reported the main reason for non-vaccination as lack of vaccination programs. Out of 210 respondents from clinical rotations, 90 students (42.8%) reported at least one injury. Among those injured, two students reported exposure to Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive cases and four to Hepatitis B virus (HBV) positive cases. Most of the injuries (44%) occurred during Internal Medicine rotation and the most common sharp involved (56.3%) was Hypodermic needle. Most injuries (35.6%) occurred while manipulating needle into patients. Following exposure, only 11.4% took Post exposure prophylaxis and 19.54% went for a Post-exposure serology test.ConclusionsNeedle-stick and Sharps-related Injuries occur frequently among health care workers including trainee students keeping them at high risk for acquiring dreadful infections like HBV, HCV and HIV. They need to be protected from unwarranted hazards by adopting routine Hepatitis B vaccination programs and by reinforcing education regarding universal precautions.

Background and Purpose Epilepsy is a chronic unpredictable debilitating condition. Epilepsy has great impacts not only on patients with epilepsies but also the persons around them. Burden among caregivers is understudied area. In view of the dearth of literature or studies focused on caregivers of children with epilepsy in Nepalese context, this study is expected to assess burden and its predictors among caregivers of children with epilepsy. Methods A total of 106 caregivers were interviewed using purposive sampling technique. The Zarit Burden Interview Scale short version was used to assess burden and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale was used to assess anxiety and depression. Data were analysed using SPSS ver. 16.0. Chi-square test, multinomial logistic regression and linear regression analysis were done for analysis of inferential statistics to find out the predictors of burden. Results Majority of the caregivers (71.7%) were females and 64.2% of caregivers were mothers of children. Majority of responders (77.4%) were Hindus. Mild to moderate burden was found in 27.4% and high burden was found in 14.2% of the caregivers. Borderline anxiety, borderline depression, anxiety and depression were present in 7.5%, 8.5%, 6.6%, and 6.6% caregivers respectively. Burden was significantly higher in caregivers of epileptic children with poorly controlled seizure ( p =0.003) and with co-morbidities ( p =0.009). Similarly, burden score had significant positive correlation ( p =0.001) with depression and significant negative correlation ( p =0.005) with age of onset of epilepsy in children. Conclusions Burden, anxiety and depression are common problems in caregivers of children with epilepsy. Poorly controlled seizure, presence of associated comorbidities, younger age of onset of seizure in children and presence of depression in caregivers are the important factors that predict burden among caregivers of children with epilepsy.

Rapid spread of COVID-19 infection reached Nepal in about 1 month of its first appearance in China in December 2019 and affected all spheres of life and society including health and education, like in other countries. We are unprepared for this new menace with many unknown facts and uncertainties when well developed set ups with advanced science and technology also seemed drowned. We attempt here to appraise our situation (condition, trend) and reflect on to the lessons (observations, and messages) that we draw in various major areas of the activities of B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences. We become acutely aware about the adverse effects of this pandemic in its academic, service and research activities along with all other aspects. Amidst the challenges, we were forced to take steps in scattered and trial and error pattern. This pandemic has brought our deficiencies in health system into surface and is offering opportunity to review, revise and reform them. We all the stakeholders, i.e. students, patients, clients, teachers, faculties, staff and authorities are in the same boat; all need to be in healthy, balanced and functional state for fruitful travel. We have certain weaknesses, drawbacks, deficits; and some strengths that we now should realize to move ahead in this COVID era.

Introduction: Mobile phones are becoming increasingly indispensable in daily life of the studentswhich has resulted in mobile phone dependence. The objective of the study was to find the prevalenceof mobile phone dependence among undergraduate students of a medical college of Eastern Nepal. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2016 to March 2017on a total of 390 undergraduate students aged between 17 and 25 years using stratified samplingtechnique. Students using mobile phones for more than one year was included in the study. Studentswere requested to complete a pretested self-administered questionnaire which comprised theirsocio-demographic characteristics, pattern of mobile phone usage and mobile phone addiction indexdeveloped by Leung. Results: The prevalence of mobile phone dependence among the undergraduate students was foundto be 85 (21.8%). Mobile phone dependence was found to be related with time spend on mobile; callsper day, money spend on recharge per month and years of ownership of mobile phone. There wasno difference between males and females with regard to mobile phone dependence. Conclusions: The present study found that mobile phone dependence was common among theundergraduate medical students. These results suggest the need to develop educational programmeto educate the students to use mobile phone meaningfully.

Introduction: Understanding the attitude of caregivers towards suicide attempters could be useful in suicide prevention. The objective of this study was to study attitude towards suicide among caregivers of patients with suicide attempt admitted to a tertiary care hospital in Nepal. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 52 caregivers of patients with suicide attempt who had been admitted to a tertiary care hospital of Nepal after obtaining ethical clearance from Institutional Review Committee (ref. IRC/0797/016). Data were collected through interviews using the Attitude towards Suicide Questionnaire and in-depth interviews conducted on five caregivers using the interview framework developed in the department for the purpose. Data and descriptive analysis were done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and percentage for binary data. Content analysis was used for qualitative data. Results: Majority of the caregivers 34 (65.4%) had unfavorable attitude towards suicide. Caregivers reported that mental and chronic physical illness, financial difficulty, working environment, and social factors such as undue pressure and failure to perform the task, difficulty maintaining the relationship, abuse, and neglect could be some of the possible causes of suicide. Caring and understanding attitude of family members, health professionals, and society towards the suicidal individuals providing appropriate training and education to the public would help in reducing the stigma and burden of suicidal patients. Conclusions: The overall attitude of the caregivers was unfavorable. Interventions targeted towards improving attitude towards suicide could be helpful in suicide prevention.