Community Pharmacy Professionals’ Knowledge and Counseling Skills for the Treatment of Acute Diarrhea in Children in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia: Questionnaire Based and Simulated Client Study

Saeed Alfadly,1,2 Mohammed Anaam,1,3 Sulaiman Ibrahim Alzunaydi,1 Abdulsalam Sulaiman Almutlaq,1 Abdulaziz Mohammed Swidan,1 Saud Alsahali,1 Yasser Almogbel,1 Mohammed Alshammari,4 Mohammed Almunef,1 Khalid Siddeeg1 1Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Buraidah, Saudi Arabia; 2Pharmacy Department, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Hadramout University, Hadramout, Yemen; 3Al-Rowaad Medical College, Sana’a, Yemen; 4Department of Pharmacy practice، College of Pharmacy, University of Hafr Albatin, Hafr Albatin, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Saud Alsahali, Email [email protected]: The study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and counseling skills of community pharmacy professionals regarding managing acute diarrhea in children in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia.Methods: A cross-sectional study consisting of a questionnaire and simulated client scenario was conducted to collect data from pharmacy professionals working in community pharmacies over a period of 3 months in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia. Pharmacy professionals were assessed for evaluating cases using 5 indicators (the age of the child, the frequency of diarrhea, fever and the presence of mucus or blood) and also for their recommendations and counseling.Results: The data were collected from 60 pharmacy professionals after site visits. In the questionnaire, 60% of the pharmacy professionals used all 5 indicators, while in the simulation, 13.3% used at least 3 indicators and 80% used 2 or fewer indicators (p = 0.35). An oral rehydration solution was recommended alone by 35% of the pharmacy professionals and with other drugs by 13.3% in the questionnaire, while in the simulation, an oral rehydration solution alone was recommended by 15% and other drugs by 48.3%. Approximately 86.7% of the pharmacy professionals did not give any dietary advice, and 50% did not counsel the simulated client on the recommended drug.Conclusion: The community pharmacy professionals in the study did not ask enough questions to evaluate a child suffering from acute diarrhea appropriately in the simulation. More questions were asked in the questionnaire; however, the difference is not significant. Additionally, they did not provide proper dietary advice, and their recommendation of an oral rehydration solution was insufficient.Keywords: acute diarrhea, fever: community pharmacy, actual practice, questionnaire: simulated client, knowledg

An integrated approach for water minimisation in a PVC manufacturing process

This paper presents a water minimisation study carried out for a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins manufacturing plant. Due to the complexity of the mixed batch and continuous polymerisation process, an integrated process integration approach, which consists of process synthesis, analysis and optimisation was used for this work. A simulation model was first developed in a batch process simulation software, SuperPro Designer V6.0, based on the operating condition of a PVC manufacturing process. The batch simulation model captured the essential information needed for a water minimisation study, e.g. process duration, water mass flow, etc. Data extracted from the simulation model was later used in the water minimisation study, utilising the widely established process synthesis technique of water pinch analysis. Two water saving scenarios were presented. Scenario 1 reports a fresh water and wastewater reduction of 28.5 and 90.1% respectively, for the maximum water recovery scheme without water storage system. In Scenario 2, higher fresh water and wastewater reduction are reported at 31.7 and 100% respectively, when water storage tank is installed in the water network