COMPARISON OF THE LEVEL OF BURNOUT AMONG THE ACADEMIC AND CLINICAL PHYSICAL THERAPISTS

Aims of Study: To compare the level of burnout among the academic and clinical physical therapists. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted from August 2019 to January 2020. Data was collected from physical therapists working in the universities and hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Data was collected from 278 participants. Maslach burnout inventory scale was used to measure the level of burnout which was analyzed using SPSS statistics 21.  Results: The mean value of emotional exhaustion for clinical physical therapists was 20.02 ± 8.08 and for academic physical therapist was 18.6 ± 6.57 with significant p value (p˂0.05). The mean value for depersonalization for clinical physical therapists was 9.22 ± 5.17 and for academic 9.29 ± 5.07 with significant p value (p˂0.05). The mean value of personal accomplishment for clinical physical therapists and academic physical therapists was 35.43 ± 7.715 and 35.74 ± 6.49 respectively with non-significant p value (p˃0.05). Limitations and Future Implications: It was conducted for specific time period which not record the overall or yearly impact of burnout on participants. So time lapse and longitudinal study should be done. Originality: The clinical physical therapists have increased level of burnout than academic physical therapists. Conclusion: The clinical physical therapists have increased level of burnout than academic physical therapists.

Cancer Prevalence in Karachi City by Use of Smokeless Tobacco Products

The objective of this study is to measure the level of heavy metals such as As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Se, Co, Fe and Mn in smokeless tobacco products (STPs), to know about the ingredients used in the manufacture of STPs, to estimate the potential risk by calculating the daily intake (DImetals) and target hazard quotients (THQ). The individual incremental cancer risk (ILTR) of various types of smokeless tobacco products (STPs) and population incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILTR) of selected age groups for consumption of inorganic Arsenic (iAs) were also calculated to excess the cancer risk associated with the smokeless tobacco products (STPs). Samples of STPs and their major ingredients were randomly collected from different markets of Karachi city (Pakistan) and classified into different categories. Samples were digested by using the nitric acid (HNO3) and analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The daily consumption of STPs was calculated by a questioner, which helped to estimate daily intake of metals (DImetals) and target hazard quotient (THQ) of metals. The high concentration of As, Cr, Se, Fe and Mn were found, while Cu, Ni, Pb and Co were found in low concentration in different STPs. The consumption of STPs obtained as 5.11 – 42.38, 7.67 – 98.55 and 6.39 – 108.46 g/day for the three age groups, below 20, between 21- 40 and above 40 years respectively. The average metal concentration and multivariate analysis indicate that the source of As, Cr, Se, Fe and Mn may be associated with processing of STPs or addition of additive raw ingredients. The high ingestion beyond the safe limit of Cu, Ni, Pb and Co is noted in regards to their consumption pattern. The total THQ (TTHQ) of studied categories of STPs exceeded the safe limit of >1 which indicates the health risk and the ILTR values for individual types of STPs and population ILTR of different age groups specifies the cancer risk associated with their excessive use.