Analysis of Saccharin in Red Porridge From Traditional Market Which Validated Using Uvvisible Spectrophotometric

Saccharin is hundreds of times sweeter than sucrose, so that it can save production costs. Saccharin as a synthetic sweetener sugar substitute is very potential to be used in making sweet tasting foods that are sold at cheap prices in traditional market, one of which is red porridge. Many foods sold in traditional market are not accompanied by marketing permits as a home industry product, thus increasing the potential for saccharin abuse. This study aimed to determine the content of saccharin in red porridge sold in traditional market and to found out its suitability with the safe limits required in Regulation of the Head of the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency of the Republic Indonesia number 4 of 2014 concerning the maximum limit for the use of sweetener food additives. Identification of saccharin was carried out by resorcinol test and thin layer chromatography. Determination of saccharin was carried out by UV-Visible Spectrophotometric which had been validated at 267.5 nm. The results show that 9 samples of red porridge sold in traditional market contain saccharin with concentrations of 0.0154 – 0.0652 %, so that it exceeds the required safe limit of 0.0100 %. In the analysis method validation, selective method is obtained in the range of 20 – 60 μg/mL, with recovery 98.7371 %, coefficient of variation 0.8671%, coefficient of correlation 0.9993, limit of detection 1,9859 μg/mL, limit of quantitation 6.6197 μg/m

Snapshot of Nurse Readiness for the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia: A Qualitative Study

During the Covid-19 pandemic, nurses who served as frontline healthcare providers are experiencing issues with extreme workload demand and under-provision of protective resources. This study aims to understand nurse readiness for the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. The study uses a qualitative phenomenology approach with purposive sampling. Participants were recruited from the regional hospital in East Java, Indonesia. The criteria of participants were nurses who worked face-to-face with Covid-19 patients from various wards. The total sample size is 20 participants. In-depth interviews were conducted to gather the data, which was analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Five themes emerged: (1) fear of getting infected; (2) PPE adequacy supply; (3) unclear patient distribution flow; (4) nurse supporting ecosystem; (5) education and training in infectious diseases. The evaluation of nurses' readiness concerned their knowledge, the supply of safety equipment, and support from various ecosystems. Nurses were concerned about various elements including catching the disease themselves, adjusting to the environment and new work procedures, physical discomfort due to special protective equipment, witnessing the suffering and death of patients, and long-term separation from family members. They need an integrated support system to help them fighting Covid-19. Attention from fellow nurses who help each other in crises, family support, and institution support are the support systems that determine the readiness of nurses.   Keywords: covid-19, nurse readiness, pandemic, qualitative stud