Smart phones and medical students: Pleasant distraction or dangerous addiction?

Smart phones are central to communication in the current century. We administered a survey to determine the impact of excessive smart phone use on academic performance, interpersonal relationships and mental health in medical students. During the study, 700 medical students from King Edward Medical University, Lahore, Pakistan, were administered a questionnaire which recorded information about demographics, academic performance, interpersonal relationships and psychological problems.

Urdu translation of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression: Results of a validation study.

Objective: To develop a standardized validated version of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) in Urdu.

Methods: After translation of the HAM-D into the Urdu language following standard guidelines, the final Urdu version (HAM-D-U) was administered to 160 depressed outpatients. Inter-item correlation was assessed by calculating Cronbach alpha.

Burnout and quality of life in nurses of a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan.

Objective: To determine the relationship of burnout and quality of life among nurses of different departments at a tertiary care hospital.

Methods: The observational, cross-sectional study was conducted at Mayo Hospital, Lahore, from November 2013 to May2014, and comprised nurses recruited by convenience sampling. Maslach Burnout Inventory was used to assess burnout and World Health Organisation Quality of life instrument's BREF version was used to assess quality of life of the subjects.