Evaluation Of Pharmacist'S Educational Intervention In Improving Treatment Outcomes Of Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Pharmacist’s role in Pakistan’s healthcare system has traditionally been limited to dispensing of medications. Healthcare stakeholders and policy makers have repeatedly called for enhancing this role and involving pharmacists in direct patient care. Therefore, this study was aimed to evaluate pharmacist led educational intervention in improving treatment outcomes of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A two arm-randomized single-blind controlled trial was designed. One arm was labeled as, ‘control’ group (CG), while other was, ‘intervention’ group (IG). The pharmacist provided an educational intervention in IG and usual care in CG. This study was conducted in rheumatology clinics of 7 hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan. A total of 714 patients were randomly enrolled, 354 in the IG and 360 in the CG

Which aspects of job determine satisfaction among pharmacists working in Saudi pharmacy settings?

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of several employment-related aspects on overall job satisfaction among pharmacists working in Saudi pharmacy settings. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted for a period of 1-month (December 2020) among pharmacists working in community pharmacies located in 3 cities of Saudi Arabia. Convenience sampling was employed, and the data was collected using the English version of Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) questionnaire. The data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 23. Descriptive statistics such as mean (x̄) and 95% confidence interval range were used to report continuous data; frequency (%) and sample counts (N) were used to report categorical data. Bivariate analyses were conducted using chi square (χ2) test. A multiple linear regression model was formulated to report the employment aspects that determined overall job satisfaction of pharmacists. The study was approved by an ethics committee. Results A total of 241 samples were analyzed. Less than a quarter of pharmacists (N = 54, 22.4%) were satisfied with their job. The overall job satisfaction score was 130.74 out of 199. The sub-scales for co-workers and communication had scores > 15.8 out of 24; subscale for operating conditions had score > 12.5 out of 20. The subscales for promotion and rewards had scores < 14 out of 24. The aspects of communication, fringe benefits and nature of work had the highest contribution towards overall job satisfaction. For a unit increase in score for communication, fringe benefits, and nature of work, the overall job satisfaction score increased by 0.204, 0.2, and 0.199, respectively. Conclusion A very small number of pharmacists seemed satisfied with their job. Satisfaction with communication, nature of work and fringe benefits contributed the most toward overall job satisfaction. Results of this study could provide the means for human resource managers and organizational policy makers to delve into the determinants of satisfaction among pharmacists working in community settings

Determinants of academic stress and stress-related selfmedication practice among undergraduate male pharmacy and medical students of a tertiary educational institution in Saudi Arabia

Purpose: To identify factors that promote academic stress and stress-related self-medication practice among undergraduate male students of pharmacy and medical colleges at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among undergraduate students of pharmacy and medical colleges of the university. The study used Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) to document academic stress. The responses of the students were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: As many as 51.6 % of students’ perceived moderate stress. The majority of students (55.9 %) highlighted examination as a stressor followed by course load (43.2 %) and cGPA (40.4 %). Prevalence of self-medication was 31.58 and 29.20 % among pharmacy and medical students, respectively. Most of the students consumed caffeine (63.8 %) and nicotine (17.8 %) as a drug. Students blamed heavy course load (23.9 %), followed by assignment load (23 %) and examination (21.1 %) for indulging in self-medication. Conclusion: Academic stress in undergraduate students in health disciplines is perceived to be high by the students. Examinations, course load and lack of time for leisure are major determinants of stress. Caffeine and nicotine are most frequently used by a majority of the students for self-medication. Keywords: Stress, Self-medication, Stressor, Caffeine, Nicotine, Student

Temperature And Strain Sensing With Hybrid Interferometer

A hybrid interferometer for simultaneous measurement of strain and temperature is proposed and investigated experimentally. This hybrid design is composed of Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) and Michelson Interferometer (MI) cascaded with each other. It is developed by fusion splicing a single mode fiber (SMF), a multimode fiber (MMF), a dual side hole fiber (DSHF), a hollow core fiber (HCF) and a tapered-SMF. The tapered SMF was inserted into the HCF to form a reflection mirror for the FPI. The maximum temperature and strain sensitivity of the hybrid interferometer achieved through experiments is 11.6 pm/°C and 6.8 pm/mu varepsilon , respectively. The different sensitivities of FPI and MI to temperature and strain enable us to achieve simultaneous measurement. The proposed hybrid interferometer sensor has many attractive features such as, novel design, low cost, easy fabrication, compact size, and good sensitivity. Therefore, the proposed hybrid sensor could be widely deployed in plenty of applications, for instance, structural health monitoring, civil engineering, food manufacturing, chemical and medical fields

Development and validation of a novel general medication adherence scale (GMAS) for chronic illness patients in Pakistan

Objective: This study aimed to develop and validate a self-reporting adherence tool termed as General Medication Adherence Scale (GMAS) in Urdu language for measuring adherence toward medication use among Pakistani patients with a chronic disease. Methods: A month-long study (December 2017) was conducted in three tertiary health care settings of Karachi, Pakistan. The tool underwent content and face validity as well as factor analyses, i.e., exploratory, partial confirmatory and confirmatory factor analyses. Random sampling was conducted, and sample size was calculated using item response theory. The item-to-respondent ratio was 1:15. Fit indices namely normed fit index (NFI), Tucker Lewis index (TLI), comparative fit index (CFI), goodness of fit index (GFI), absolute goodness of fit (AGFI), parsimony goodness of fit index (PGFI), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), and standard root mean square residual (SRMR) were calculated. Additionally, estimation of the convergent, discriminant and known group validities, was conducted. Internal consistency was analyzed by testretest reliability, McDonald’s and Pearson correlation coefficient. The factor analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS version 22 and IBM SPSS AMOS version 25. Results: Content validity index (CVI) was reported at 0.8 (SD 0.147) and the tool was content validated with three hypothetical constructs. Factor analyses highlighted a 3- factor structure. The fit indices were calculated with satisfactory results, i.e., PGFI, GFI, AGFI, NFI, TLI, and CFI were greater than 0.9 and PGFI > 0.5. The values of RMSEA and SRMR were less than 0.07. A Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.84 was obtained in reliability analysis. The test-retest Pearson’s correlation coefficient value was reported at 0.996 (p-value < 0.01). Convergent and discriminant validities for all constructs and, known group validity for two constructs, were established. A high response rate of 91% was achieved in respondents. Patients without insurance coverage appeared to be low adherent compared to those with insurance coverage (p-value < 0.05). Non-comorbid patients were more likely to be highly adherent as compared to comorbid patients (pvalue < 0.01). Conclusion: A novel tool GMAS was developed in Urdu language and was subsequently validated in patients with chronic diseases

DIRECT COST OF TREATMENT OF DIABETES MELLITUS TYPE 2 IN PAKISTAN

Objective: Diabetes is a serious illness. It is a key and growing threat to the health of the global world. The prime concern of this research was to estimate the cost-of-illness of type 2 diabetes in Karachi, a major metropolitan city of Pakistan. This study was performed on the basis a community perspective to calculate the economic burden of diabetes mellitus type 2 in Pakistan. Methods: This study was conducted in all districts of Karachi, the patients were taken from all economic segment of society from low income group, average revenue and high revenue group. A preliminary test questionnaire was used to collect the data directly from patients and in some locations conducted interviews with patients due to lack of understanding and un-educated patients. The total of 885diabetes patients was selected with convenient random sampling. Results: The average direct cost of all these expense bear by diabetic patient in Pakistan is Pak Rupees Rs.5542 per month. The cost range starts from Rs. 650/month to 20000 per month on the basis of patient economic condition and disease state. The average appointment fee of a physician, laboratory test and medicines came to Rs. 700/visit, 400/test, and 1100/visit precisely. The average travel and food spent was Rs.200/visit and 1000/month. Medicine accounted for largest cost followed by consultation with the physician. Conclusion: This is clearly indicated by this study that considerable cost is amounted by diabetes, it is suggested that a huge amount of resources could be prevented by taking care, initial understanding of the disease and a decrease in diabetes co-morbidities and complications through better diabetes mellitus treatment. Very extensive and cost-effective programs should be started to maximize health benefits and to diminish the prevalence of this epidemic

Knowledge and perceptions towards cardiovascular disease prevention among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A review of current assessments and recommendations

Introduction: Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are at significantly higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). There is scarcity of literature reviews that describes and summarises T2DM patients' knowledge and perception about CVD prevention. Objectives: To describe and summarise the assessment of knowledge and perceptions about CVD risk and preventive approaches among patients with T2DM. Methods: A scoping review methodology was adopted, and three scientific databases, Google Scholar, Science Direct and PubMed were searched using predefined search terms. A multistage screening process that considered relevancy, publication year (2009-2019), English language, and article type (original research) was followed. We formulated research questions focused on the assessment of levels of knowledge and perceptions of the illness relevant to CVD prevention and the identification of associated patients' characteristics. Results: A total of 16 studies were included. Patients were not confident to identify CVD risk and other clinical consequences that may occur in the prognostic pathway of T2DM. Furthermore, patients were less likely to identify all CV risk factors indicating a lack of understanding of the multi-factorial contribution of CVD risk. Patients' beliefs about medications were correlated with their level of adherence to medications for CVD prevention. Many knowledge gaps were identified, including the basic disease expectations at the time of diagnosis, identification of individuals' CVD risk factors and management aspects. Knowledge and perceptions were affected by patients' demographic characteristics, e.g., educational level, race, age, and area of residence. Conclusion: There are knowledge gaps concerning the understanding of CVD risk among patients with T2DM. The findings necessitate educational initiatives to boost CVD prevention among patients with T2DM. Furthermore, these should be individualised based on patients' characteristics and knowledge gaps, disease duration and estimated CVD risk

Energy consumption patterns of mobile applications in android platform: a systematic literature review

Studies related to resource consumption of mobile devices and mobile applications have been brought to the fore lately as mobile applications depend largely on their resource consumption. The study aims to identify the key factors and holistic understanding of how a factor influences Consumption Pattern (CP) effectiveness for an android platform mobile application. The study presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on existing studies that examined factors influencing the effectiveness of CP for android mobile application and measured the effectiveness of CP. Therefore, the current SLR is conducted to answer the following questions: (1) What is the evidence of CP factors that drain the battery of a mobile device? (2) What are the energy conservation techniques to overcome all the factors that drain battery life? and (3) How can developers measure the effectiveness of an energy conservation technique?. The SLR investigated factors affecting the effectiveness of CP for android platform mobile application. The analyses of forty papers were used in our synthesis of the evidence related to the research questions above. Therefore, the analyses showed 22 studies that investigated how to measure the energy conservation technique effectiveness while 18 studies focused on better understanding of how the resources of mobile devices are actually spent. In this sense, 2 studies show the effectiveness of early analysis of software application design. Additionally, five factors i.e., architecture, interface, behavior of the application, resources, and network technologies that affect CP effectiveness were identified. This study investigated a SLR targeting at studies of CP effectiveness in android platform. The total of 40 studies were identified and selected for result synthesis purpose in this work (SLR). The evidences show there are five factors affecting the CP’s effectiveness. Three of them have received a little attention among developers regarding choosing the most suitable: software architecture, application interface and behavior of the application in terms of resource consumption