Evaluation of the knowledge and behavior of patients at a university hospital outpatient clinic regarding blood donation

Aim: This study aims to determine the knowledge, and behavior of patients at a university hospital’s family practice outpatient clinic regarding blood donation. Material and method: In this cross-sectional study, the authors administered a questionnaire to patients (400 people) at the university hospital’s family practice outpatient clinic for three months. The study data were entered into the SPSS package program, and the author performed the statistical analyses using this program. Results: The mean age of the participants was 28.70±10.81. Of them, 86% knew their blood type, and 53.8% had a document showing their blood type. Only 21.8% of the participants had previously donated blood. Blood donation was evaluated according to gender; men had offered to donate blood more than women; when evaluated according to marital status those who were married were found to donate blood more than singles. 63.3% of the participants who donated blood said they did so to help other people. Of those who did not donate blood before, 29.1% now consider donating?? In response to the question, how much a person is supposed to weigh in order to donate blood, 47.0% said a person should weigh at least 50 kilograms. When asked how often you could donate blood, 23.8% said every three months. Conclusion: The participants’ attitudes and behavior regarding blood donation were positive. Knowledge of participants is not enough. They are moderately well informed about this issue. People should be continuously provided with training about blood donation to increase their awareness

Examination of the patients applying to the physical therapy unit of a hospital due to low back pain

Introduction: This study analyzes factors influencing low back pain in patients admitted to the physiotherapy unit of an education and research hospital. Methods: The study sample included 102 patients who applied to the physiotherapy unit and volunteered to join the study. The data were collected using a 23-items questionnaire created by the authors based on a review of the literature. The data were entered into the SPSS Program For comparisons, p values below 0.05 were deemed to be statistically significant. Results: The mean age of the participants was 46.7±14.4 years. By occupation, low back pain was most common among housewives. Of the patients who suffered from lower back pain, 57.8% were overweight or obese. Of those experiencing lower back pain, 73.5% were standing for long time periods, and 67.6% were lifting heavy loads. Of the patients, 69.6% had lower back pain in their families, and 29.4% of the family members with lower back pain were their mothers.Of the patients, 70.6% received drug therapy for the pain. The frequency of low back pain among patients who did not receive drug therapy was higher than that of the patients who received pain medications (p<0.05). Of the patients who had low back pain attacks 11 times or more in a year, the percentage of smokers was 66.7%, while this rate was 35.7% among nonsmokers (p<0.05). The increase in low back pain with body mass index was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusion: Patients applied to the hospital due to low back pain report lifting heavy loads or prolonged standing. Smoking increases the frequency of low back pain. Patients with low back pain also tend to have family members with the condition. With appropriate measures to reduce risk factors, the frequency of low back pain, which hinders daily life activities, can be reduced

Nursing department students' knowledge and use of complementary and alternative medicine methods

Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, use and views of health school nursing students about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices.Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, the questionnaire was distributed to every student who was studying on the days when the research was applied. The study was conducted with 489 volunteer students who agreed to fill out the questionnaire. The obtained data were recorded in SPSS packaged software and statistical analyzes were done through this software. Results: The CAM methods that are most known by the students who participated in the research are respectively, (82.6%) exercise, (79.6%) vitamins, (74.0%) diet, (73.0%) vegetable products and (71.3%) massage. The frequency of using CAM was found to be 51.3%. CAM usage rate in males is higher than females (p<0.05). In this study, when the causes of using CAM were examined, 51.1% of the students stated that they used CAM methods to solve their health problems, 50.1% of them used CAM to reduce stress and 44.4% of them used CAM for hair and facial treatment. The rate of recommending CAM methods to others is 52.6%. The students were informed about CAM methods firstly from the internet, secondly from the family and thirdly from the friends. Conclusions: Students of the nursing department have a lack of knowledge in this regard. Nevertheless, more than half of the students have used alternative treatment methods and recommended them to others.Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, use and views of health school nursing students about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices.Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, the questionnaire was distributed to every student who was studying on the days when the research was applied. The study was conducted with 489 volunteer students who agreed to fill out the questionnaire. The obtained data were recorded in SPSS packaged software and statistical analyzes were done through this software. Results: The CAM methods that are most known by the students who participated in the research are respectively, (82.6%) exercise, (79.6%) vitamins, (74.0%) diet, (73.0%) vegetable products and (71.3%) massage. The frequency of using CAM was found to be 51.3%. CAM usage rate in males is higher than females (p<0.05). In this study, when the causes of using CAM were examined, 51.1% of the students stated that they used CAM methods to solve their health problems, 50.1% of them used CAM to reduce stress and 44.4% of them used CAM for hair and facial treatment. The rate of recommending CAM methods to others is 52.6%. The students were informed about CAM methods firstly from the internet, secondly from the family and thirdly from the friends. Conclusions: Students of the nursing department have a lack of knowledge in this regard. Nevertheless, more than half of the students have used alternative treatment methods and recommended them to others

The second report from Turkey: waist percentiles for 6-11-year-old children in Elazig Province, Eastern Anatolia

Objective: To construct waist percentiles for 6-11-year-old Turkish children in Elazig Province, Eastern Anatolia

Weight, height and BMI references in Elazig: an east Anatolian city

The aim of this study was to produce the growth references for Elazig children aged 6-11 years. Data were collected in eight primary schools of Elazig in 2007. Age-and gender-specific height, weight and body mass index (BMI) references were produced with LMS (Lambda-Mu-Sigma) method and compared with reported values in an Anatolian and a metropolitan city. A total of 3,342 (1,634 females, 1,708 males) children aged 6-11 years from among 4,258 students were included in the study. Age-and gender-specific height, weight and BMI references were produced. The 3rd-97th percentiles were detected to be higher than the range of percentiles between 6-11-year-old children. We consider that this first local reference for Elazig will provide a useful tool for health planning and monitoring of growth and development

Push and Pull Factors of Why Medical Students Want to Leave Türkiye: A Countrywide Multicenter Study

Phenomenon: Physician immigration from other countries is increasing as developed countries continue to be desirable destinations for physicians; however, the determinants of Turkish physicians’ migration decisions are still unclear. Despite its wide coverage in the media and among physicians in Türkiye, and being the subject of much debate, there is insufficient data to justify this attention. With this study, we aimed to investigate the tendency of senior medical students in Türkiye to pursue their professional careers abroad and its related factors. Approach: This cross-sectional study involved 9881 senior medical students from 39 different medical schools in Türkiye in 2022. Besides participants’ migration decision, we evaluated the push and pull factors related to working, social environment and lifestyle in Türkiye and abroad, medical school education inadequacy, and personal insufficiencies, as well as the socioeconomic variables that may affect the decision to migrate abroad. The analyses were carried out with a participation rate of at least 50%. Findings: Of the medical students, 70.7% had emigration intentions. Approximately 60% of those want to stay abroad permanently, and 61.5% of them took initiatives such as learning a foreign language abroad (54.5%) and taking relevant exams (18.9%). Those who wanted to work in the field of Research & Development were 1.37 (95% CI: 1.22–1.54) times more likely to emigrate. The push factor that was related to emigration intention was the “working conditions in the country” (OR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.56–2.28) whereas the “social environment/lifestyle abroad” was the mere pull factor for the tendency of emigration (OR: 1.73, 95% CI: 1.45–2.06). In addition, the quality problem in medical schools also had a significant impact on students’ decisions (OR: 2.20, 95% CI: 1.83–2.65). Insights: Although the percentage of those who want to emigrate “definitely” was at the same level as in the other developing countries, the tendency to migrate “permanently” was higher in Türkiye. Improving working conditions in the country and increasing the quality of medical faculties seem vital in preventing the migration of physicians