Report of Seminar - Trends in Health Care

The seminar was aimed to update the knowledge on the recent advancement among the healthcare professionals and it was held at Shirdi Saibaba Hall, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal. The chief guest for the inaugural function was Col (Dr) M. Dayananda, Medical Superintendent and COO of Kasturba Hospital Manipal, highlighted that healthcare is rapidly changing and since nurses are closely associated with delivering healthcare it is necessary to update the existing knowledge. He even encouraged the participants to take up research on the topics discussed in this seminar. The chief guest also congratulated the team for arranging a seminar on such emerging and relevant topic.  

The seminar began with a session by Dr. Leslie Edward Lewis, Professor Dept. of Neonatology, KMC Manipal, who spoke on how children on ventilator are taken care and focused on multidisciplinary approach with the aim to make the child comfortable. The neonatologist compared the multidisciplinary approach to that of a football team, which include strikers, defenders and goalkeepers. In the health care team, doctor is like a striker, if a he has to score it is the collaborative effort of all of them in the team, thus the nurses have a very significant role in the patient improvement. He also highlighted on safe practices for effective artificial ventilation, to be sensitive to children’s micro responses, developmental support needs and infection control. 

Dr.Joseph Thomas, Professor, Dept. Of Urology KMC Manipal spoke on “Ethics in Clinical Practice”, the legal and illegal aspects involved.

'Never events in the hospital' by Mrs. Darryl Aranha, Dept. of OBG Nursing, Fr. Muller College of Nursing, who spoke on quality care of patients. She spoke on safety of patients by providing risk free environment.  

Dr. Christopher Sudhakar, Dean, MCON Mangalore spoke on ‘Research in hospital setting’. He spoke on importance on research in health care setting .The staff nurses should take initiative to conduct the research by the guidance of the seniors.  

Early cardiovascular disorders among youth are the issue of concern these days. Dr. Tom Devasia, Professor, Dept of Cardiology, KMC Manipal spoke on the causes and various treatment modalities involved. Few cardiovascular disorders highlighted were - hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; a genetic disease where more than 25 genes have been identified causing the condition, Coronary artery disease; that is no longer limited to older generation . People below age group of 45 years affected with Myocardial infarction come under the category of MI under young. It is predominant in men and risk factors include smoking which is commonest causes among youth, hypercholesterolemia, family history, obesity are the other causes. He advised on lifestyle modifications to reduce obesity. Answering the queries of the audience he said that it is not conclusive that alcohol has protection against heart disease even though some studies say so. 

Another topic dealt in the seminar was 'Nursing care bundles' by Mr.Vishnu Renjith, Junior Research Fellow, MCON, Manipal who spoke on the guidelines for practice and developing care bundles for practice which would bridge the gap between nursing research and practice.

Dr. Blessy Prabha Valsaraj, Associate Professor in the Dept. of Psychiatric Nursing, MCON Manipal addressed on how the depression has become a major problem among youth and the ways to deal with it. A study done in the year 2013 among 2000 adolescents in Udupi district reported a prevalence rate of 44% of the adolescents depression which was higher than found among elderly! Imbalance in the needs may lead to depression and other causes being loss of someone close, stressful life event or crisis, presence of any illness and family history. The males are mostly affected than females. In the youngsters these days depression is a major issue due to study related problems, wrong choices made, lack of motivation, overload, faulty study practices, habits, family issues like broken family, financial issue, recent loss of loved ones etc. The depression among youth is usually presented with low grades in academics, poor attendance, failure, low self esteem, mood swings, hyperactivity, misconduct, physical complaints and substance abuse. “It is not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it”- Hans Selye. Talking on handling depression she highlighted some of protective factors are dealing with the stress effectively, developing confidence and assertive communication and enhancing self esteem by engaging in creative hobbies. Dr. Blessy also mentioned the importance of identifying good role models in life and developing a strong foundation of value system that can enhance effective coping with stressors in life. The parents, teachers and peers have major role in identifying depression at early stage thereby preventing and seeking support from the professionals at the earliest. 

The programme was concluded with the closing remarks by Dr. Judith A Noronha, Associate Dean, MCON Manipal and the certificates were presented to the delegates by Dr. Anice George, Dean, MCON Manipal. Total participants who attended the seminar were 110 from various colleges and hospitals from in and around Udupi and Mangalore.