Objective: Electronic (e) prescribing is computerised prescribing. The Government of Kerala has started the e-health initiative. The objective of this study was to obtain the perceptions of prescribing doctors on e-prescription before its implementation. Method: This was a questionnaire based cross sectional study conducted for a period of six months in a Government tertiary care teaching hospital of Kerala. The prescribing doctors of the institution formed the sample population. The response to the structured questionnaire was measured on Likert scale. Data were analysed using SPSS 16. Domain scores of perceived usefulness, ease of use and fitness to the Institution were calculated by averaging the response. Chi square test was done to find the association of score of each domain with independent variables. Results: Two hundred and fifty seven prescribing doctors of age range 22-60 years participated of which 49% were females and 51% males. Response rate was 73% (257/350). Although 70.5% have heard of e-prescriptions only 14% participants had hands on exposure. The mean perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and fitness were 3.5±0.47, 3.35± 0.49 and 2.95 ± 0.44. Conclusion: Dislike for paper prescriptions was the single most important factor associated with perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived fitness of e-prescription in the institution. Information technology training and infrastructure development should go hand in hand with implementation of e-prescribing. Key words: Electronic prescribing, Electronic prescription, Medication error, Health Information Technology. Key Messages: For successful implementation of electronic prescriptions, training and technologically developed settings is a must. Educating the prescribers on preventable medication errors associated with paper prescriptions can lead to the acceptance of e-prescribing. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

Background: Breast cancer is a common cancer among women in India and its incidence is increasing in an alarming rate. There is a paradigm shift in the management of early breast cancer with more emphasis given to breast conservation treatments. This study aimed to assess the proportion of patient underwent breast conservation surgery and reasons to choose breast conservation surgery or modified radical mastectomy in early breast cancer. Methods: Information of 41 patients with early breast carcinoma who attended the institute during the study period and who can choose either modified radical mastectomy or breast conservation surgery depending on their wish are included in the study group and the data thus obtained was entered in MS Excel data sheet and analysed using SPSS 16 software. Results: It was observed that the proportion of women selecting breast conserving therapy increased with improved literacy status. Similarly, menstrual status and location of tumor do have an influence in choosing breast conserving surgery with significant statistical correlation. However, unlike the previous studies we did not find any statistically significant association between age and surgical decision. Similarly, place of residence, and employment status of the patient does not influence the decision to undergo breast conservation surgery. Conclusions:We have to create awareness in the society about the safety of breast conservation treatment to popularize this modality of treatment there by more and more organs can be preserved.

Introduction: Quarantine of travellers was one of the major public health strategies enforced by the state to curb the transmission of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the initial phases. Proper quarantine requires commitment from the person, support, and monitoring from the public health system. Aim: To understand the process, practices, perceptions, and difficulties of quarantined persons during the initial phase of the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) in a panchayat in Alappuzha, Kerala, India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from May to September 2020 using a semi-structured questionnaire through telephonic interview among quarantined individuals in a panchayat in Alappuzha, Kerala. Quarantine practices, the process of quarantine, perceptions, and difficulties faced were explored to understand their viewpoint. The perceptions of the healthcare providers were also enquired qualitatively. The data collected was entered in Microsoft Excel and statistical analysis was done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, USA). Results: Out of the 182 quarantined individuals, 152 were in home quarantine of which 89 (58.6%) observed strict room quarantine and 132 (72.5%) had a quarantine period of more than 14 days which was the guideline then. Majority were contacted by the health staff during the period; however, 28% were not satisfied with the information that was conveyed to them. Majority adhered to infection control guidelines during quarantine. Almost half (46.7%) of them reported emotional problems during quarantine of which the major issues were loneliness and lack of social contact. Almost one-third of them had experienced stigma and rejection from people in the neighbourhood. Conclusion: Quarantine to be used effectively as a public health measure requires that the concerns and problems should also be taken care of. Adequate information regarding the need and process of quarantine should be provided and there should be a system to cater to the emotional concerns of the persons. Awareness regarding the purpose and role of quarantine among the general public will enable quarantine to be used as a powerful tool for disease control in the future.

BACKGROUND The rapid physical growth and development in adolescence are associated with increased nutritional needs and this depends on the dietary pattern and eating habits of the adolescents. Adolescence is also a period of increased vulnerability to obesity which is not only linked to food intake but also due to a lack of physical activity in the growing years. Dietary habits that are established during adolescence are often sustained till adulthood. Hence the purpose of the study was to understand the prevalence of unhealthy dietary practices among adolescents that could enable schools to create a health-promoting culture by teaching healthy food choices and creating awareness of the ill effects of unhealthy dietary practices. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire among adolescents in the age group 15 to 17 years in a panchayat in Kerala. The socio-demographic characteristics, the family details and dietary practices were recorded, height and weight were measured, and BMI was calculated and ELIZ health pathway for adolescents (EPHA) was used for categorising the study participants. A diet score was also calculated to estimate the prevalence of unhealthy dietary practices among adolescents. RESULTS The prevalence of inadequate consumption of fruits was 60.9 % and inadequate consumption of vegetables was 36.9 %. Based on the dietary score, 36.7 % had poor dietary habits and 36.6 % had good dietary habits. A significant association was found between the type of school, occupation of mother, educational status of parents, type of family and inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables. CONCLUSIONS An unhealthy lifestyle does not just appear in adulthood, it stems from practices children develop during their childhood and adolescence. Awareness regarding the risk factors of non-communicable diseases should be provided to children to enable primordial and primary prevention as powerful tools to prevent these diseases in future.