Objective: Health being a subject of the state and Accreditation of Healthcare Organisations being a voluntary process, the Quality Council of India (QCI) through National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers is creating standards and promoting quality in healthcare. The Medical Laboratory Program, which is designed to improve the Quality of Medical Laboratories, is being implemented by both government and private Laboratories to ensure quality of test results. Materials and Methods: A small program Evaluation study was carried out over a period to understand the level of understanding, usefulness and feedback from the participating Laboratories regarding "QCI - Essential Standards for Medical Laboratories"1 Program. The data was collected and analysed from 55 participating laboratories. Results: The study findings indicated 100% strongly agree that, training programs conducted were really helpful, 98% stated that, this program was instrumental towards Patient Safety and improved the Quality Indicators of laboratory activities. Around 89% of the respondents strongly support the fact that "Educational Materials & technical Supports provided by Med-Lab Team were very useful & helpful to implement the standards" & this Program has helped to "achieve Quality Output with minimal effort & investment". Most of the respondents (4/5 ^th ) i.e. 80% of the respondents found that implementation of Med-Lab Program was easy & flexible. More than 80% of the respondents have felt either good, very good or excellent on all the parameters that have been spelt out regarding "Post-Implementation impact of Med-Lab Program on various quality Indicators. 53 labs (96%) are satisfied with results on post implementation of the Med-Lab Program and agreed to recommend this program to other labs as well. This is the first such study in India. The findings may be an eye opener for the labs and the state governments who haven't yet participated in the Med Lab Program.

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Background and Objective: The next decade shall see a great change in the health care sector and there is a need for standardization of health care delivery at all levels, which at the moment is lacking in India. The standardization can come if we adopt some sort of uniform accreditation. For proper deliverance of health care, the role of medical staff is significant. This asks for an assessment on the attitude of medical staff toward accreditation and then the knowledge on accrediting standards. This study is conducted with the objectives to identify the attitude level of medical staff on accreditation, as well as their knowledge level on NABH standards. Research Methodology: The study was conducted on 10 doctors and 40 nurses of the hospital before and 6 months after the start of accreditation process in the hospital. Samples were selected by simple random method. A questionnaire was used to collect the information about the attitude and knowledge of medical staff about NABH accreditation. Results: The study revealed that medical staff had a positive attitude and improved knowledge about accreditation after 6 months working in a hospital on the way to NABH. The attitude reflected in their positive approach in managing patients under better work atmosphere thus, indirectly reflecting on the benefit to the society as whole. Conclusion: The sound knowledge and a positive attitude toward NABH accreditation among the medical staff are very important. And the same can be accomplished with proper training and good hospital environment.

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Aim: The present cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted with an aim of assessing the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) related to pharmacovigilance among the health-care professionals in a teaching hospital located in Central India region. Materials and Methods: To assess the demographic details of the health-care professionals, their KAPs toward pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting; a predesigned, structured, close-ended 18 item questionnaire was used. Results: A total of 392 questionnaires were distributed among the health-care professionals. It was found that only 38.01% health-care professionals comprising 54.43% medical, 38.01% nursing and 19.01% dental professionals were aware regarding the existence of pharmacovigilance program of India. While, only 40.56% health-care professionals felt that ADR monitoring center should be established in every hospital. Similarly, very few health-care professionals, that is, 6.12% have ever reported ADR to pharmacovigilance center. Conclusion: The results of our study indicate that the majority of the health-care professionals had a poor knowledge and attitude about pharmacovigilance. There was a huge gap between the ADR experienced, and ADR reported by the health-care professionals especially among dentist and nursing staff. It has been advised that the health-care professionals; especially dental and nursing, should be trained properly on ADR reporting to improve the current scenario in the pharmacovigilance program of the country.

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Context: The purpose of this study was to analyze the implementation of the surgical safety checklist (SSCL) for all invasive procedures and compliance with the SSCL to determine further improvements. Aims: To implement the SSCL for all invasive procedures within 6 months and achieve 80% compliance. Settings and Design: Various invasive procedures selected that have comparatively risks of errors. Modified the SSCL based on essential requirements of the procedure. Materials and Methods: The implementation of the SSCL was observed for all identified invasive procedures. Checklists were piloted, rolled out, and monitored. Statistical Analysis Used: Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) and Pareto principle were used for implementing the SSCL and analyzing the hurdles for implementation. Results: During this exercise, the checklist for the various invasive procedures was finalized after a brainstorming sessions with various stakeholders. All the checklists were developed with the help of the World Health Organization (WHO) surgical safety principle between March 2013 and May 2013. Sensitization and training for the checklist were done among all relevant staff. All the checklists were piloted for June 2013 and the compliance of checklist usage was monitored. The sample for audit was decided. The rates of compliance for various procedures during the pilot phase of the study were 50% for dental extractions, 60% for cataract surgeries, 35% for endoscopy, 20% for cystoscopy, 40% for cardiac catheterization procedures, and 0% for bronchoscopy procedures. Compliance reviewed and changes made based on feedback received from users for checklist finalization. After the intervention, compliance monitoring for the same sample size at a defined frequency is done and shared with relevant stakeholders when required. Conclusions: Implementation needs constant monitoring, retraining, and reinforcement until it becomes self-evident and accepted.

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Background: This study was undertaken to assess the levels of job satisfaction and its correlate among nurses in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH); and to compare the levels of job satisfaction between senior and junior nurses. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of senior and junior nurses working at various specialties in AKTH, Kano. Ethical clearance and informed consent were obtained. Questionnaires were used to obtain a response from 350 nurses in a five-point Likert scale. The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 statistical software. Descriptive statistics was used. Significant association of job satisfaction and sociodemographic variables was tested using the Chi-square test and Pearson' Coefficient of Correlation. Statistical significance was considered when P < 0.05. Result: The mean ages were 30.26 ± 4.76 and 40.19 ± 5.61 years for junior and senior nurses, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant, (P = 0.001). The mean number of dependents was higher (5 ± 2) for senior nurses compared to junior nurses (4 ± 2), but the difference was not statistically significant. Both age and number of dependents showed very weak positive correlations with job satisfaction. The average duration of service for senior nurses (9.45 ± 4.25 years) was higher than that of junior nurses (3.44 ± 2.00 years), and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.0001). Most junior nurses had their promotion 4-7 years prior to the study (58.75%) compared to the senior nurses whose promotion was within the past 3 years (64.7%). Nurses in the two groups worked 7-9 h/day (84.3% and 85.3%). Duration of last promotion showed very weak positive correlation with job satisfaction. Conclusion: There are generally high levels of job satisfaction among nurses in AKTH compared with those report from other studies and this showed a very weak positive correlation with promotion. Job satisfaction may improve if nurses are promoted timely.

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Aim: The aim was to assess the knowledge and awareness of standard precautions among heath care workers that is, doctors, nurses, and technicians. Setting and Design: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in September and October 2013 at Nizam's institute of medical sciences, Hyderabad. Materials and Methods: A 40-item questionnaire was provided to 180 health care workers including doctors, medical technicians and nurses to assess their knowledge and awareness of standard precautions under seven divisions namely general information on standard precautions, care of skin and hand washing, personal protective equipment (PPE), procedure for the safe handling and disposal of sharps, postexposure prophylaxis, bio medical waste and linen disposal, knowledge on blood borne and other pathogens. Statistical Analysis: Chi-square test has been used to compare the relevant groups. Results: It was observed that 96 (53.3%) respondents are very knowledgeable and 84 (46.7%) were somewhat knowledgeable. In the very knowledgeable category, there were 38 doctors, 24 nurses and 34 technicians. 48 (57.1%) males and 48 (50%) female respondents were found to be very knowledgeable. With respect to length of service, 21 (53.8%) respondents in 0-5 years of service category, 18 (60%) in 5-10 years category and 57 (48.7%) in >10 years category were found to be very knowledgeable. Conclusions: Knowledge of standard precautions was highest among doctors (63.3%), followed by technicians (56.6%) and nurses (40.0%). There is a significant difference in knowledge and awareness of standard precautions among studied health care professionals (P = 0.031). Knowledge and awareness of standard precautions did not vary significantly between males and females (P > 0.05). There is no significant difference in knowledge and awareness of standard precautions among groups, with respect to length of service (P > 0.05). The studied population was not very knowledgeable in division's namely PPE, sharps disposal and bio-medical waste disposal.

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Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze the multi-center data of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) to assess the infection control (IC) scenario in India in context with Center for Disease Control (CDC)/National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) and International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) database. Materials and Methods: Four National Accreditation Board for Hospitals accredited hospitals contributed their raw data on HAIs-number of days and number of infections in all intensive care patients were obtained as per the CDC-NHSN definitions and formulae. Three major device related infections were considered for analysis based on the prevalence of HAIs and discussions with subject experts. All nodal champions from each hospital were trained and common data collection sheet for surveillance in accordance to CDC-NHSN was formed. The pooled means for HAI rates and average of the pooled means for all were calculated using data from them and compared with CDC/NHSN and INICC percentiles. Results: The Indian pooled mean HAI rates for all infections were above CDC/NHSN percentile threshold but below INICC percentile. Ventilator associated pneumonia was considered as a matter of prime concern, crossing P90 line of CDC/NHSN threshold. However, no HAI rate was in the limit of P25. Conclusion: Indian HAI rates were higher when mapped with CDC threshold. This suggests the requirement for more standardized and evidence based protocols to tackle the HAIs with an aim to achieve the benchmark within CDC/NHSN thresholds. However, the 4 hospitals have better HAI rates as compared to pooled INICC database.

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There is an increasing focus on having quality systems in place during the planning stages of clinical trials. Such systems require the development and implementation of standards for each step. Although this is not imposing something totally new on clinical research, a systematic approach will produce a more reliable and useful end product-high-quality data obtained without compromising the protection of human subjects' rights and welfare. A suggested quality system with standards for each step is addressed in this article. The organization measures and improves when necessary, compliance with organizational policies, procedures, and applicable laws; regulations, codes, and guidance. The organization also measures and improves when necessary, the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of the clinical trial process to protect the research participant.

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