Healthcare personnel's use of e-information sources in Riyadh governmental hospitals

ICT has enabled a wide dissemination of information and a sharp increase in the magnitude of electronic information sources. The use of e-information sources by healthcare personnel within Saudi Arabia has received little research attention. This paper discusses the use of e-information sources by healthcare personnel in the kingdom. A questionnaire with open-ended questions was designed to collect data from eleven governmental hospitals and health centres in Riyadh. It identified a range of problems and obstacles that impact on the use of electronic information sources. The identification of these difficulties opens the way for development and improvement of the current situation

Challenges of continuing medical education in Saudi Arabia's hospitals

Phd ThesisBackground Health care professionals are responsible for maintaining their proficiency throughout their careers. Continuing medical education (CME) is an integral part of the medical profession that aims to enhance physicians’ knowledge and skills. Health care services in Saudi Arabia are expanding rapidly. However, the country is struggling to cope with a shortage of competent health professionals. CME in the Kingdom is facing some challenges that are preventing learning programmes from responding appropriately to professionals’ demands and needs, and to the complexity of health care. Research questions The research questions addressed in this thesis are: 1. What is the current status of continuing medical education in Saudi Arabian governmental hospitals? 2. What are the barriers preventing continuing medical education from implementing competitive learning programmes? 3. How might Saudi culture be influencing the health context and how does this impact upon the field of CME? Methodology This study adopted a mixed methods approach supplemented by ethnography. Two forms of individual, semi-structured interviews targeted two groups of respondents; the interviews were followed up by a questionnaire (sent by email) listing all the challenges to CME identified by the interviewees, and asking the participants to rank them in order of importance. In addition, observation was conducted throughout the fieldwork. Sampling Three public hospitals were selected from different geographical areas (N=3). Judgemental approach resulted in the selection of 33 medical education representatives from different medical and paramedical departments (N=33). Purposive sampling resulted in the selection of 11 medical librarians (N=11). Results The major CME challenges were identified and grouped into four themes: 1. Management, including the lack of knowledge on the part of decision makers about the importance of lifelong learning, and their influence over learning programmes. 2. Poor status of medical libraries, in terms of location, space and services provided. 3. Lack of transparency in the CME budget, which leads to a too close relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and physicians. 4. Diversity of staff, including their different training backgrounds, and their resistance to making changes in their performance after training. Discussion and conclusions The study found a strong correlation between health stakeholders’ lack of managerial skills and knowledge of the significance of CME and the learning programme limitations in Saudi Arabia; this factor also received the highest ranking by the participants in the study. 3 Hospital officials lack the necessary knowledge about the importance of CME, and lifelong learning has become complex. Their negative attitude towards learning has resulted in several challenges: some of these have been identified in this study, including a lack of support for the learning process in hospitals, an inability to motivate staff to continue developing their skills, and a lack of transparency when allocating budgets to learning elements, including CME and library services. This ambiguity has resulted in poor libraries and a heavy reliance on pharmaceutical industry sponsorship for CME events and medical professionals’ trips, which can affect the quality of the events and/or cause bias. The study has also clarified the issue of staff diversity. Although the majority of health care professionals are foreigners, the concern is that health care stakeholders are recruiting professionals from developing countries where the quality of health care and training might be low. Despite the varied training and educational backgrounds among the staff, no efforts have been made to design learning programmes that meet their actual and wide-ranging needs. Rather, current activities are based on desires and wishes of chiefs of medical departments.The Government of Saudi Arabia

Patients' views on the service quality of primary health care services : a comparative study of PHC services provision by the security forces and general public sectors in Riyadh City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Success factors in information technology projects

Concern for project failures and successes have posed a controversial and much debated topic amongst scholars and practitioners alike. IT projects are no exceptions and they too suffer from a high rate of failure. This research aims to explore the reasons why certain IT projects succeed). Besides its academic importance, the research intends to assess the implications for successful implementation of current and future IT projects. The review of the extant literature reveals the enormity of the challenges involved in minimising or avoiding project failures. Present work is contextualizing these issues in a large national organisation with branches throughout the KSA. The Saudi Arabia constitutes the case study for this research. Qualitative methodology was adopted to generate and collect adequate and relevant data. Main instruments were; Semi-structured interviews involving senior managers in five geographical areas who were involved in the management of the IT projects and selected project documents. Thematic analysis was used and led to emergence of seven main ‘themes’, 19 major ‘issues’, and the construction of the first time generic model for success of IT projects. The core issues identified in the model are: Quality, Time and Cost at three levels; individual, organisation and environment with specific order of importance. The implications of the findings for the theory and practice have been identified. It is also recommended that there is a need for further research into individual and contextual factors that influence both managers as well as the circumstances under which IT projects are implemented.Ministry of Education, KS

Healthcare waste management, quantification and intervention in Addis Ababa City Administration health bureau public health facilities

Healthcare waste management is very important due to its hazardous nature that can cause risk to human health and the environment. The study wished to determine the amount of healthcare waste generated in 15 public health centres and 3 hospitals and evaluate the healthcare waste management practices in Addis Ababa City Administration. The aim of the study was to develop a manual for healthcare facilities based on the findings on healthcare waste management practice, quantification and intervention. Data was obtained from questionnaires distributed to 636 randomly selected healthcare professionals, ancillary staff and managers and by means of surveying the facilities. The mean HCW generation rate was 10.64 + 5.79 kg/day, of which 37.26% (3.96 + 2.017kg/day) was general waste and 62.74% (6.68 + 4.293 kg/day) was hazardous waste from the surveyed health centres. HCW generation and quantification was not measured and documented in any of the HCFs. Quantifying HCW would help determine the type of waste as well as the HCFs that generate the highest and lowest HCW, which could have implications for resource allocation in managing HCW. Segregation of different types of wastes was not regularly done. Some HCFs had separate storage areas for HCW and separate containers for hazardous and nonhazardous waste. In some instances, however, the containers were not clearly marked. Regarding storage, some of the HCFs had interim storage sites and HCW disposal sites. Several interim storage facilities lacked security and surveillance and were not cleaned after collection. In addition, HCW remained at the interim storage facilities for more than 48 hours before final disposal. The main forms of on-site treatment of HCW before disposal were burning, crushing sharps, sterilisation and chemical disinfection. The most common treatment method used for HCW was incineration. Most HCW handlers had not received adequate training; did not wear PPE, and did not take precautionary measures, such as washing their hands and heavy duty gloves after handling HCW. The researcher developed a manual for effective HCW management and training of HCW handlers. Based on the findings, the study makes recommendations for policy, education, HCW management, including generation, segregation, storage, transportation and disposal, and further research.Health StudiesD. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies

Healthcare personnel's use of e-information sources in Riyadh governmental hospitals

Department of Information Science, College of Arts, King Saud University, P.O. Box 17965, Riyadh 11494, Saudi Arabia Email: [email protected] has enabled a wide dissemination of information and a sharp increase in the magnitude of electronic information sources. The use of e-information sources by healthcare personnel within Saudi Arabia has received little research attention. This paper discusses the use of e-information sources by healthcare personnel in the kingdom. A questionnaire with open-ended questions was designed to collect data from eleven governmental hospitals and health centres in Riyadh. It identified a range of problems and obstacles that impact on the use of electronic information sources. The identification of these difficulties opens the way for development and improvement of the current situation

13th International Postgraduate Research Conference 2017 : conference proceedings

Welcome to the 13th International Postgraduate Research Conference (IPGRC 2017) hosted by the School of the Built Environment at University of Salford, UK. This year’s IPGRC is organised as part of the International Research Week 2017- ‘Shaping Tomorrow’s Built Environment: Construction and Design for the Modern World’ and also the year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Salford as a University, which makes this year’s conference very special. This conference creates a unique opportunity for researchers from Salford and other parts of the world to share their research interests, and outputs and to network and interact within a professional and friendly environment, with high profile academics and leaders within the built environment. This year’s conference brings together participants from a number of countries including the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Ireland, Norway, India, Brazil, South Korea, Nigeria, Turkey, UAE, South Africa, Iraq, Ghana, Estonia, Saudi Arabia and many more. The conference received over 100 papers and posters covering the following themes: • Business, Economics and Finance • Property and Project Management • ICT, Technology and Engineering • People, Skills and Education • Design and Urban Development • Sustainability and Environmental Systems Conference will provide a forum for novel discussions into the development and application of new and emerging practices to challenge current design and construction practice in the areas of people, process and technology issues. On behalf of School of the Built Environment, the conference co-chairs and organisers, we wish you an enjoyable and fruitful experience. We hope that you will obtain useful feedback to your research work, gain insight from work of others and forge connections for future