The Impact of Political Skills on Employee Outcomes

Current research proposes the direct link of political skills with job performance, job satisfaction and turnover intentions. We particularly proposed that political skill is positively related to job performance and job satisfaction and it is negatively related to turnover intentions. We tested out hypothesized model adopting two data analysis techniques including linear regresson analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM). Using a sample of 350 employees working in the service sector of Pakistan we found strong support for our hypothesized model. The results clearly depict that political skill is positively related to job performance and job satisfaction and it is negatively related to turnover intentions. At the end results are discussed, limitations and future research directions are provided in detail. Keywords: Political skill, job performance, job satisfaction, turnover intentions

Primary vesical varices: a cause of gross haematuria

We report a case of isolated bladder varices that manifested with sudden onset, gross hematuria, in a 44-year-old male with no co-morbid conditions. Varicosities were discovered on cystoscopy. Conditions to look out for in such a situation are discussed

Safety Measures for Operating Team and Operation Theater During the Current Scenario of COVID-19

The COVID-19 has become a major threat to Pakistan and worldwide, and has become a significant issue for global health, economy and societies. This rapid spread was occurred from Wuhan, China to most of the part of the world. To elaborate the concept and recommendations regarding the safety precautions in operation theater (O.T) and inside associated team during the current scenario of COVID-19. Many research and review articles were studied to collect information about Covid-19 and strategies published in various journals using the search engine, PubMed and Medline. The COVID-19 has significantly changed all aspects of daily life around the world since very start of this year 2020. SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), a novel corona virus, has been infected many healthcare workers. In this perspective, hospitals need a strategy to manage their resources, staff and supplies so that patients receive optimal treatment. A decision tree algorithm was developed that defined the recommendations for safety measures in operation theater and operating procedures, these include identifying and developing an isolation room, administrative measures such as transformations in working flow and procedures, introducing personal protective equipment for the employees and formulating anesthetic clinical guidelines. These control actions are essential to enhance the excellence of care provided to COVID-19 patients and to minimize the risk of spread to other patients or staff. The operating room is a dynamic environment with numerous staff like anesthesiologists, physicians, nurses, O.T attendants and technicians; however, we agree that the containment steps are important in order to improve the standard of treatment provided to COVID-19 patients and to minimize the chance of viral spread to patients other than COVID-19 and hospital staff

Attitude of overseas Pakistani students towards modular examination.

oai:mmcedupk_jmmcfinal.jmmc.mmc.edu.pk:article/8Introduction: Modularization an innovative initiative taken by educational institutes around the globe to increase the student’s productivity and efficiency.   Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge and attitude regarding modularization in overseas Pakistani students. Methodology: A cross sectional survey was conducted at the International Medical College of one of the public sector university during December 2012 till February 2014. A total of 425 undergraduate students were approached through non-probability convenience sampling technique and requested to fill a semi structured questionnaire after taking written consent. Result: According to the outset of this paper a total of 425 students were questioned. Among the total 189 students were male (44.47%) and 236 were female (55.52%) out of which the majority belonged from North America/Canada (79.06%). A vast percentage (48.94) invested of about 2 hours of study daily. 63.06% of students believed modular examination to be a fair system and 32.94% of students thought it to be a failure to affect any educational standards. 36% of students blame stress/load for their poor result and 31.06% agrees with the lengthy syllabus being responsible for their down showing GPA’s. 43.06% of students face hardships because of irregular attendance. The major complaint of students (39%) was their teaching style. 46.12% of students prefer to study from lecture notes. Thus, this study completely clears all the aspects of student’s performance in modular system of examinations and its flow and shortcomings. It is important that more effort should be put into cater to student’s stress, loads and make it an effective system to improve a student’s capability and efficiency.  Conclusion: The findings of this study can guide us to revise and reshape the assessment system practiced at various medical colleges in Karachi

Comparison between intravenous boluses versus infusion of tranexamic acid (TXA) to reduce bleeding in paediatric cyanotic congenital heart disease (CHD) surgeries

Objective: To compare the intravenous boluses and intravenous continuous infusion of tranexamic acid (TXA) to reduce postoperative bleeding in cyanotic congenital heart disease surgeries. Study Design: Single-blinded randomised clinical trial. Place and Duration of Study: Anaesthesia Department, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from July 2016 to April 2017.Methodology: Sixty patients of cyanotic congenital heart disease, undergoing either palliative or corrective surgery involving cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), were recruited. These 60 patients were divided randomly into two groups. The infusion group received intravenous infusion of TXA at 5 mg/kg/hour while the bolus group received three intravenous boluses of 10 mg/kg after induction, after going to bypass and after protamine reversal. Data was collected through predesigned proforma. There were two primary outcomes: postoperative bleeding in the first 24 hours, and chest closure time.Results: Postoperative bleeding was 13.94 (10.27-20.18) ml/kg in the first 24 hours in infusion group and 15.05 (9.04- 23.50) ml/kg in the bolus group. Chest closure time was 38.5 (25-45) in infusion group and 30 (20-46.25) minutes in the bolus group. There was no statistically significant and clinical difference between both groups regarding postoperative bleeding in the first 24 hours and chest closure time.Conclusion: These infusion and bolus groups had comparable postoperative bleeding and chest closure time

Mechanistic Insight into the role of Vitamin D and Zinc in Modulating Immunity Against COVID-19: A View from an Immunological Standpoint

The pathophysiology of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is characterized by worsened inflammation because of weakened immunity, causing the infiltration of immune cells, followed by necrosis. Consequently, these pathophysiological changes may lead to a life-threatening decline in perfusion due to hyperplasia of the lungs, instigating severe pneumonia, and causing fatalities. Additionally, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can cause mortality due to viral septic shock, resulting from unrestrained and backfiring immune reactions to the pathogen. Sepsis can cause premature organ failure in COVID-19 patients, as well. Notably, vitamin D and its derivatives and minerals, such as zinc and magnesium, have been reported to improve the immune system against respiratory illnesses. This comprehensive review aims to provide updated mechanistic details of vitamin D and zinc as immunomodulators. Additionally, this review also focuses on their role in respiratory illnesses, while specifically delineating the plausibility of employing them as a preventive and therapeutic agent against current and future pandemics from an immunological perspective. Furthermore, this comprehensive review will attract the attention of health professionals, nutritionists, pharmaceuticals, and scientific communities, as it encourages the use of such micronutrients for therapeutic purposes, as well as promoting their health benefits for a healthy lifestyle and wellbeing

Carrot and Stick Approach: The Exploitative Leadership and Absenteeism in Education Sector

Utilizing the conservation of resources theory, this study investigates serial mediation of facades of conformity and depression between exploitative leadership and absenteeism. A total of 211 education sector employees using the convenient sampling technique took part in the survey with data collected in a time-lagged research design. Findings of the study reveal that facades of conformity and depression mediate the independent paths and play a serial mediating role between EL and absenteeism path. This study suggests that EL works as a workplace stressor, under which employees try to protect their valuable resources from further loss in the form of facades of conformity, in doing so, it leads to depression; thus, employees ultimately use absenteeism as an active coping strategy to cope with workplace stressors

Educating and Informing Patients Receiving Psychopharmacological Medications: Are Family Physicians in Pakistan up to the Task?

Introduction: Studies have shown a high prevalence of psychiatric illnesses among Patients in primary health care settings. Family physicians have a fundamental role in managing psychiatric illness with psychopharmacological medications. Providing information about the disease, its management and the potential adverse effects of the medications is an important part of the management of mental illnesses. Our objective was to determine if Patients who were prescribed psychopharmacological drugs by family physicians at a community health center in Karachi, Pakistan were provided adequate education about their disease and its management. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Community Health Centre (CHC), Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi, Pakistan. Details about the prescriptions and Patient education were acquired from the Patients after their consultations. Results: A total of 354 adult Patients were interviewed during 3 days. Among them, 73 (20.6%) were prescribed psychopharmacological medications. Among Patients receiving psychopharmacological medicines, 37 (50.7%) did not know their diagnosis, 50 (68.5%) were unaware of the disease process, 52 (71.2%) were unaware of alternative treatments, 63 (86.3%) were not cautioned about the potential adverse effects of the drugs, 24 (32.9%) were unaware of the duration of treatment and in 60 (82.2%) of the participants an appropriate referral had not been discussed. For all aspects of education, Patients prescribed psychopharmacological medications knew less as compared to those Patients that were prescribed other medications. Discussion: The practice of imparting information to Patients who receive psychopharmacological medications seems to be inadequate in Pakistan. We have hypothesized about the possible reasons for our findings, and identified a need for further research to determine the cause for such findings and to address them accordingly. At the same time there is a need to educate family physicians in Pakistan about the special importance of providing adequate information to such Patients

Advice from the Scientific Advisory Board of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on riot control agents in connection to the Chemical Weapons Convention

Compounds that cause powerful sensory irritation to humans were reviewed by the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in response to requests in 2014 and 2017 by the OPCW Director-General to advise which riot control agents (RCAs) might be subject to declaration under the Chemical Weapons Convention (the Convention). The chemical and toxicological properties of 60 chemicals identified from a survey by the OPCW of RCAs that had been researched or were available for purchase, and additional chemicals recognised by the SAB as having potential RCA applications, were considered. Only 17 of the 60 chemicals met the definition of a RCA under the Convention. These findings were provided to the States Parties of the Convention to inform the implementation of obligations pertaining to RCAs under this international chemical disarmament and non-proliferation treaty.Peer reviewe

Preferential Treatment Is Fruitful or Not? With Mediating Role of Customer Entitlement and Its Outcomes

Preferential treatment of selected customers is one of the strategies employed by companies that aim to implement relationship marketing. The objective of the study is to determine the impact of customer entitlements on complaint behavior and customer incivility. The quantitative method was used to test the model. Total 350 questionnaires were distributed out of which 293 were received from respondents. Convenience sampling technique was used to collect data from customers. SPSS and AMOS software were used for data analysis. Demographic analysis and reliability analysis were performed using SPSS. CFA and SEM were used on AMOS software. The results show that customer entitlement has mediating role between preferential treatment, complaint behavior and customer incivility. Our findings specifically show that receiving preferential treatment can improve consumer satisfaction. Furthermore, the fact that we found a considerably higher degree of satisfaction in the non-unique over-reward condition than in the unique over-reward situation indicates that the way preferred treatment is allocated influences customer satisfaction