Viscum album, an infrequently used antihypertensive in homeopathy, is evaluated by 1-group pretest-posttest model in primary hypertension. The drug was administered for 12 weeks at a dosage of 10 drops 3 times a day. Using paired t test, a significant drop in blood pressure (P < .0001) and serum triglyceride (P < .0001) was observed in the treatment group. This dual effect of Viscum album shows promise in optimizing therapy for primary hypertension.

Aim and objectives To study the awareness and practice of Patient rights and to compare the same between general and private ward hospitalized patients of a selected hospital. Materials and methods Descriptive research approach was adopted wherein data was collected from 120 hospitalized patients, i.e. 60 from general and 60 from private ward using a structured questionnaire. It was then analyzed by frequency, percentage and significance test to interpret the awareness and practice of patient rights in the hospital. Results The study reveals that awareness of patient rights was high in most of the cases. There was 71% awareness about the right to confidentiality, 67% awareness of the right to grievance redressal, 65% awareness about the right to be informed, 58% awareness of the right of access to healthcare and 55% awareness about the patient's right to choice of care and decision making. But low (39%) awareness was noted in case of patient's right to informed consent. With regards to practice of patient rights, it was seen that certain rights were well-practiced like 95% practice of the right of access to healthcare, 89% practice of the right to confidentiality and 64% practice of the right to choice of care and decision making. But relatively lower percentage of practice was observed for right to be informed (49%), right to informed consent (44%) and the right to grievance redressal (21%). There was significant difference in the level of awareness and practice of patient rights among private and general ward patients in most of the rights. Conclusion The study was vital in finding that most respondents were aware of patient rights. So also, most of the patient rights were practiced in the hospital in varying degrees, while a few needed immediate rectification and management action. How to cite this article Fernandes AB, D'Cunha S, Suresh S. Patient Rights: Awareness and Practice in a Tertiary Care Indian Hospital. Int J Res Foundation Hosp Healthc Adm 2014;2(1):25-30.

Background: In countries like India, road traffic accident (RTA) associated morbidity and mortality is rising in alarming rate and is major concern of public health. Around 80% of the late deaths in trauma patients are due to infection. This study was undertaken to study the profile of infection and drug resistance pattern of bacterial infection in RTA survivors. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study and was conducted at a tertiary care hospital with documented evidence of infection from the hospital records. The demographic details of the patient, details of injury and the pathogens causing infections with drug resistance patterns were studied. Results: A total of 163 patients were accrued and the majority of the patients were male (140, 85%) and around 66% belonged to the working age group, i e., 20–50 years. Most of the patient's were treated by orthopedics and surgery departments, 72% and 20%, respectively. The majority of the patients had wound infection followed by Urinary tract infection. Among the Gram-negative pathogens, Escherichia coli and Citrobacter species were the common pathogens; and among Gram-positive organisms, Enterococcus species and Staphylococcus aureus. Most of the pathogens were resistant to commonly used presurgical prophylactic antibiotics such as ampicillin, cefuroxime, and ciprofloxacin. Conclusion: The bacterial profile of the pathogens causing infection in RTA survivors may vary among different institutions. Therefore the antibiogram of these pathogens needs to be studied and analyzed by each medical facility attending to RTA survivors to formulate policy for presurgical antibiotic prophylaxis.

Background: Radiation-induced mucositis and dermatitis are severe side effects and compromise the health of the head-and-neck cancer patient undergoing treatment. Zinc supplementation during the course of the treatment is shown to have protective effects against both radiation-induced mucositis and dermatitis. The aim of this study was to understand whether the level of serum zinc has an effect on the development of mucositis and dermatitis. Materials and Methods: This was noninterventional study where the levels of serum zinc were ascertained before the start of treatment by spectrophotometric methods. The patients were treated every day with no more than one fraction of 2 Gy per day, five times a week without any intended gaps for a planned target dose of 60–70 Gy (6–7 consecutive weeks). The patients were assessed for radiation-induced dermatitis and mucositis in accordance with the standard guidelines. The association between the levels of serum zinc with the development of different grades of mucositis and dermatitis (on the day of development) was ascertained using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r). A statistical value of P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: A total of 52 consecutive patients satisfying the inclusion criteria were enrolled. The results indicate that serum zinc levels showed a significant correlation (r = 0.29; P < 0.038) for Grade 1, while it was insignificant for Grades 2 and 3. For dermatitis, a significant correlation for all the grades (Grade 1 [r = 0.28; P < 0.043]; Grade 2 [r = 0.39; P < 0.006]; and Grade 3 [r = 0.49; P < 0.047]) was observed. Conclusions: For the first time, the results of this pilot study indicate that the serum level of zinc had an inverse association with the early development of mucositis and dermatitis, with better effects seen in dermatitis where it was also effective in Grades 2 and 3.

No abstract