Aneesha Asok Kumar, Deepak Panasseril Jayapradeep, Gayathri Gangadharan Nair , Sebina Asmi, Ashid Salim,
Volume 17, Issue 5 (Sep-Oct 2023)
Abstract
Background: Blood transfusion is a potentially life-saving procedure that has many consequences and complications. Most of the complications are due to clerical and technical problems. Hence, the proper knowledge and skills of the personnel involved in blood transfusion are critical. Nurses are an integral part of blood transfusion procedures. Our study aimed to evaluate nurses' knowledge about safe blood transfusion practices in a tertiary care center in North Kerala.
Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study of 113 registered nurses involved in a blood transfusion procedure in a tertiary care center in North Kerala. The knowledge of the nurses was evaluated by using a questionnaire comprising 20 questions, of which 10 questions were about theoretical knowledge and 10 were about practical knowledge. Scores>75%, between 50% and 75%, and <50% were considered as good, fair, and poor knowledge, respectively.
Results: In our study, 44.25% of the nurses showed fair knowledge, and 32.7% had poor knowledge of knowledgebased questions. Moreover, 48.6 % had fair knowledge, and 14.16% had poor knowledge of practice-based questions. No statistically significant association was found between nurses' years of experience and theoretical and practical knowledge. A statistically significant association was found between the place of work and theoretical and practical knowledge. Many of the nurses lacked proper knowledge regarding the key aspects of blood transfusion.
Conclusion: We recommend more training programs to improve the knowledge and skills of the nurses to ensure the quality and safety of blood transfusion.
Subaida Adalam Kunnath, Anandan Kalarikal Raghavan, Feroze Moosa , Aneesha Asok Kumar ,
Volume 19, Issue 5 (Sep-Oct 2025)
Abstract
Background: COVID-19 is a global pandemic caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Various clinical and hematological findings have been identified that can predict disease severity. This study aims to investigate the roles of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and neutrophil-to-platelet ratio (NPR) in predicting the severity of COVID-19 infection.
Methods: In this analytical cross-sectional single-center study, after obtaining Ethics Committee clearance, patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection admitted during their first two weeks of illness were included. NLR, PLR, and NPR were derived from the CBC reports. These ratios were compared in each clinical category group to assess the severity.
Results: The total number of cases was 160, with a mean age at diagnosis of 56 years. The proportion of males was slightly higher (54.4%) than that of females (45.6%). The proportion of Category C patients (66.9%) was higher than that of Category B (25%) and Category A (8.1%) patients. It was found that NLR, PLR, and NPR ratios had a statistically significant association with severe COVID-19 infection, suggesting they can be used to differentiate between Category C and Category A or B. NLR is a better predictor of the severity of COVID-19 disease than PLR and NPR.
Conclusion: NLR, PLR, and NPR ratios can serve as predictive markers of disease severity in COVID-19 infections. Among these ratios, NLR has the highest predictive value for disease deterioration.
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