https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6279 Tue, 21 Apr 2026 23:42:52 GMT 2026-04-21T23:42:52Z https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/8841 Professional and social impact of the Covid-19 pandemic among physiotherapists working in the state hospitals in the western province of Sri Lanka Yamasinghe, PK; Hevage, AH BadulleKurundu; Gamage, HN Thelikada; Acharige, IU Uberathna; Senavirathna, SADCS; Jayasekera, MMPT COVID-19 rapidly overwhelmed the entire world and challenged healthcare professionals globally. Physiotherapy is one of the main professions affected by it. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the physiotherapists in the government health sector in the Western Province, Sri Lanka. Objective was to find out the professional and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on them. Data collection was done using a self administered questionnaire which was validated with pilot study and overall analysis was done using SPSS21. There were 185 participants with 96 (52%) males and 97.8% of were vaccinated with two doses of AstraZeneca vaccine. Majority (69%) used hand gloves, sanitizers and surgical masks as protective measures while 3% used goggles. Only 39% of physiotherapists received training for Covid-19 protection while 61% were educated via the internet. The overall patients treated by themselves were reduced to 45.8% and 10.6% of them were compelled to treat Covid-19 patients. About 10.3% of them were stressed due to high workload and 12.2% were afraid of getting affected by Covid-19. The majority worked eight hours or more per day. And 50% of physiotherapists practiced online consultation. About 24.7% experienced a high cost of living still 40 (19.3%) refrains from private practice. Six (2.3%) were temporarily resigned while two (0.8%) gave permanent resignation. About 15.8% of physiotherapists and 45.5% of their relatives /friends became COVID positive. 30% of them experienced a loss of their family member or colleague due to COVID.The study has revealed that there is no association between work-related factors before and during the pandemic. COVID-19 had changed the routine professional life of a physiotherapist and majority managed to have protective measures when handling the patients and adptaion of their treating methods. Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/8841 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/8840 A qualitative study of the perspectives of care received by the institutionalized elders in Southern Province, Sri Lanka Rasangi, MLP; Karunanayake, ADSS; Somasiri, KG In the current era, elderly people are more prone to have institutionalized care because of nobody to care them. It is crucial to investigate whether they are received a quality holistic care in order to improve their quality of life. The aim of this study was to explore the perspectives of care received by the institutionalized elders in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. Qualitative phenomenological study design was used. Onsite, semi-structured faceto-face interviews that included open ended questions were conducted with institutionalized elders. Fifty elderly individuals were recruited by convenient sampling technique after obtaining ethical approval. Each semistructured interview was audio taped and then was transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was employed for data analysis. Fifty elderly individuals (22 male and 28 female) ranged from 70 to 74 years participated for the study. Majority were of Sinhalese (94%), Buddhis (68%) and unmarried (70%). Out of them, majority (40%) were institutionalized as nobody to care. Three main themes were identified: enhanced physical health, concern for psychological and emotional status and enhanced spiritual wellbeing. Elderly individuals were more satisfied with the physical care they received. They were highlighted the necessity of better psychological and spiritual care. Physical, psychological, social and spiritual care have been responsible for holistic care in order to improve the quality of life of the institutionalized elders. Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/8840 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/8833 Assessment of Eye Lens Dose in Interventional Cardiology Wickramasingh, HNSU; Ramanathan, V; Sarasanandarajah, S The International Commission on Radiological Protection decreased the annual eye lens dose limit to 20 mSv in 2011 from the recommended value of 150 mSv in 2007 to reduce radiation-induced lens opacity in radiation workers in interventional departments. Consequently, the newly recommended occupational eye lens dose limit creates an interest to investigate the eye lens doses for interventional cardiologists as they are more susceptible to radiation hazards, especially for eye lenses. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to investigate the occupational eye lens doses and determine the correlation between direct eye dosimetric values and dose values obtained from supplementary dosimeters for interventional cardiologists in Sri Lanka. 150 cardiac catheterization procedures were considered in 1 month period. Two cardiologists were selected from the cardiac catheterization laboratory to measure the eye lens doses. An ED3 eye dosimeter was placed near to left eye for the direct reading of the eye lens dose. Hp(10) and Hp(0.07) dosimeters were placed on the collar level outside the apron to assess the thyroid collar dose. The annual effective doses to operators A and B were received as 8.6958 mSv/year and 4.8361 mSv/year respectively. For each operator, the Pearson correlation received good relationships between eye lens, Hp(10), and Hp(0.07) doses. This study provided appropriate evidence to indicate the necessity of routine eye lens dose measurement. The current study revealed the importance of supplementary dosimeters to estimate the eye lens doses when dosemeters dedicated to eye lens dose measurement are not available. Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/8833 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6507 Evaluation of growth, yield, and nitrogen losses from leafy red onion cultivation with different fertilizer practices in Kalpitiya peninsula Swarnathilake, DSGGC; Dalpitiya, DMAU; Herath, HMIK; Gimhani, DR Intensive agriculture practices together with increased fertilizer use have a greater impact on groundwater quality in Kalpitiya.Water demand in Kalpitiya is 70% fulfilled by groundwater extractions. The demand is ever increasing due to increase of population and agricultural practices. The permeable nature of sandy Regosols causes heavy leaching of nutrients and contamination of shallow groundwater. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different fertilizer practices on growth, yield and nutrient leaching in leafy red onion grown in Kalpitiya. The Red onion is the major crop grown on a large scale. The treatments tested were T1-Farmer Used Rate of fertilizer and T2-Department of Agriculture (DOA) recommendation. The experiment was arranged in Completely Randomized Block Design with three replicates in six plots (7.2m2). The red onion of Jaffna Local was established in a research field where lysimeters were previously installed. The leachate was collected weekly from lysimeters and analysed for leached nitrogen. Growth of plants and yield were recorded. A significant difference in leached nitrogen was observed between treatments. Furthermore, it was observed that there was a statistically significant difference between the final yield of T1 and T2 treatments. The total nitrogen leaching percentage of T2(67.88%) was lower than T1(78.86%) even though the crop yield of T2 (5069.25 kg/ac) was lower than T1(7556.95 kg/ac). The average concentration of nitrate in the leachate of T1 was 73 mg/l while that of T2 was 72 mg/l. The safe limit of nitrate in groundwater is 50 mg/l. Recommended amounts of fertilizer should be applied in balanced proportion and at appropriate times with soil amendments may help to absorb nutrients efficiently. Therefore, study concludes that, both practices showed leached nitrate concentrations above safe limits recommended by WHO which urges the need for change in nitrogen fertilizer management for red onion on sandy Regosols. Thu, 01 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6507 2022-09-01T00:00:00Z