A study to assess knowledge regarding fatty liver among bank employees working in selected banks at Mangaluru

Background: Fatty liver is closely associated with lifestyle. The bank employees have been often witnessed having junk food, coming home late and not engaged in any physical activity. Hence, an attempt has been made by the investigator to assess the knowledge of bank employees regarding fatty liver condition so that an educational intervention will be planned to motivate them for remaining physically active and healthy. Objectives: The descriptive study assessed the knowledge regarding fatty liver among bank employees. Materials and Methods: The 109 subjects were selected by convenience sampling technique. The knowledge questionnaire having 24 items and baseline Performa having 12 items were given for the subjects to place their responses. Results: The mean percentage of 50 revealed in present study showed that subjects were with inadequate knowledge regarding fatty liver condition. There was a significant association between knowledge of bank employees regarding fatty liver and age (χ2 = 28.31, p = 0.001),, religion (χ2 = 178.37, p = 0.001),, type of family (χ2 = 34.13, p = 0.01),, designation (χ2 = 48.02, p = 0.001),, job experience (χ2 = 25.64, p = 0.001),, qualification (χ2 = 10.46, p = 0.001),, food from restaurant (χ2 = 70.56, p = 0.001), and BMI of the subjects (χ2 = 73.04, p = 0.001). Conclusion: From the findings it can be inferred that more the years of job experience, more the chances of getting fatty liver. IEC activities can play a great role to improve the knowledge of bank employees regarding fatty liver condition. Keywords: Knowledge, fatty liver and bank employees

Study to assess the health issues among employees working in selected call centres of Mangalore

Background: The new mantra for job opportunities among young population is “call center”. Though Bangalore is considered as hub for call centres, the slowly call centres are emerging in Mangalore. Since this job has got a lot of mental pressure, it can be even exhibited in the form of physical and physiological symptoms. Hence, an attempt has been made by the investigator to assess the health issues among call centre employees. Objectives: A descriptive study aimed to assess the health issues among employees working in selected call centres. Materials and Methods: Convenience sampling technique was used to select the sample size of 80 call centre employees. The dichotomous questionnaire having 22 items and baseline proforma having 16 items were given for the subjects to place their responses. Results: The present study revealed that overall percentage of health issues was around 19% that shows the employees had one or the other type of health issue. Headache was the most frequent complaint (66.3%) sounded by the subjects. Second common complaint was eye strain (45%) followed by back pain (43%). Less proportion (28.8%) of the respondents were restless and 27.5% had gained weight. There was  a significant association between age (χ2 =16.20,p<0.05), gender (χ2 =6.5,p <0.05), religion (χ2 =33.80,p<0.05), marital status (χ2 =49.37,p<0.05), type of family (χ2 =45.0,p <0.05), habits (χ2 =174.1,p <0.05), frequency of habits (χ2 =48.05,p <0.05), years of job experience (χ2 =28.67,p<0.05), type of shift (χ2=45.0,p<0.05), average number of working hours (χ2 =72.20,p <0.05), rest period (χ2 =54.45,p<0.05), duration of rest period (χ2 =25.87,p<0.05) and participation in health awareness program (χ2=76.05,p<0.05) with baseline characteristics. Conclusion: From the findings, it can be inferred that the longer the working hours, the more the health issues. The rest period ensures the less health issues. More the years of job experience more will be the health issues, the smokers had more health issues than the non smokers.                      Keywords: Health issues, employees, call centre

Knowledge regarding Hepatitis B among staff nurses

Hospital is a place to get cured from the suffering. Among the members of health team the nurses spend most of their time at the bed side and they are usually considered as angels at the mission of comforting patients. Hepatitis B is a potentially life-threatening viral infection caused by Hepatitis B virus. It can create both acute and chronic diseases and, deemed as a major and serious health problem in the developing countries like India. Materials and methods: The descriptive survey approach adopted in the study aimed to assess the knowledge regarding Hepatitis B infection and its prevention among staff nurses. Self administered structured knowledge questionnaire was developed on the basis of objectives of the study by reviewing the literature of relevant topics and discussion with experts. Result: The data obtained from 100 staff nurses indicated that majority of the subjects (61%) were in the age group of 21-28 years, 84% were females and 16 % males. More than half of the subjects (55%) were with B. Sc qualification 63% were having 1-5 year experience and 62% of subjects were having monthly income between Rs 10,001-20,000. Only 36% of the subjects acquired information from college/friends. Distribution of staff nurses according to their knowledge showed that 86% had adequate knowledge, 12% had moderate knowledge, and 2%had poor knowledge. Conclusion: Nurses have major role in preventive aspect than in curative aspects Nurse through the scientific knowledge and skills are able to collect the data from public. The study results will help the investigators as well as the public to update their knowledge by organizing education programme. Keywords: Hepatitis B, Prevention, Staff nurses