Introducing inter-professional education in curricula of Saudi health science schools: An educational projection of Saudi Vision 2030

AbstractRecently, the Saudi government initiated plans to improve both the health care system and health profession education. Providing optimal care in health care institutions requires health care providers from different services to collaborate and interact. Evidence-based research has shown that optimizing the interactions and communication between health care workers improves patient outcomes and reduces medical errors. The use of interprofessional education (IPE) in undergraduate health profession programmes in some Western universities has been found to be an effective tool for improving communication and interaction between health care providers. This paper addresses the possibility of introducing IPE into health profession education in KSA to support Saudi Vision 2030

Autoimmune liver disease - are there spectra that we do not know?

Autoimmune liver diseases (AILDs) are common leading causes for liver cirrhosis and terminal stage of liver disease. They have variable prevalence among patients with liver disease and have two major clinical and biochemical presentations. Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is the typical example of hepatocellular AILD, but it can also be presented under a cholestatic pattern. AIH has a scoring diagnostic system and respond in most cases to the treatment with prednisolone and azathioprine. Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is the second most common AILD, with a cholestatic presentation and characterized by positive antimitochondrial antibody (AMA). It has an excellent response and long term outcome with the administration of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). Another AILD that is thought to be a variant of PBC is the autoimmune cholangitis, being a disease that has biochemical and histological features similar to PBC; but the AMA is negative. Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare entity of AILD that has a cholestatic presentation and respond poorly to the treatment, with the ultimate progression to advance liver cirrhosis in most patients. Other forms of AILD include the overlap syndromes (OS), which are diseases with mixed immunological and histological patterns of two AILD; the most commonly recognized one is AIH-PBC overlap (AIH-PSC overlap is less common). The treatment of OS involves the trial of UDCA and different immunosuppressants. Here we present three case reports of unusual forms of chronic liver diseases that most likely represent AILD. The first two patients had a cholestatic picture, whereas the third one had a hepatocellular picture at presentation. We discussed their biochemical, immunological and histological features as well as their response to treatment and their outcomes. Then, we compared them with other forms of AILD

Autoimmune Hepatitis as a Unique Form of an Autoimmune Liver Disease: Immunological Aspects and Clinical Overview

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a unique form of immune-mediated disease that attacks the liver through a variety of immune mechanisms. The outcomes of AIH are either acute liver disease, which can be fatal, or, more commonly, chronic progressive liver disease, which can lead to decompensated liver cirrhosis if left untreated. AIH has characteristic immunological, and pathological, features that are important for the establishment of the diagnosis. More importantly, most patients with AIH have a favorable response to treatment with prednisolone and azathioprine, although some patients with refractory AIH or more aggressive disease require more potent immune-suppressant agents, such as cyclosporine or Mycophenolate Mofetil. In this paper, we discuss the immunological, pathological and clinical features of AIH, as well as the standard and alternative treatments for AIH

Introducing inter-professional education in curricula of Saudi health science schools: An educational projection of Saudi Vision 2030

بدأت الحكومة السعودية مؤخرا، في وضع خطط لتحسين كل من نظام الرعاية الصحية والتعليم الصحي. ويتطلب توفير الرعاية المُثلى في مؤسسات الرعاية الصحية تعاون وتفاعل مقدمي الرعاية الصحية من القطاعات المختلفة. وقد بيّنت الأبحاث المبنية على البراهين أن تحسين التفاعل والتواصل بين العاملين في الرعاية الصحية يؤدي إلى تحسين نتائج علاج المرضى والتقليل من الأخطاء الطبية. وقد تبين أن استخدام التعليم المتداخل بين التخصصات في برامج تدريس التخصصات الصحية في بعض الجامعات الغربية أداة فعالة لتحقيق تواصل وتفاعل أفضل بين مقدمي الرعاية الصحية. تتناول هذه الورقة إمكانية إدخال التعليم المتداخل بين التخصصات في تعليم التخصصات الصحية في المملكة العربية السعودية لدعم رؤية السعودية ٢٠٣٠

Mentoring Clinical-Year Medical Students: Factors Contributing to Effective Mentoring

Theory: Academic mentoring is an effective method of enhancing undergraduate medical student academic performance, research productivity, career planning, and overall satisfaction. Hypotheses: This study investigates the relationship between mentor characteristics and mentee academic performance, with an emphasis on identifying students who need special support. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among fourth-year medical students at King Abdulaziz University Faculty of Medicine undertaking the clinical skills module (CSM) rotation. Mentors included senior and junior faculty members from the Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Family Medicine. King Abdulaziz University Faculty of Medicine assigned 1 mentor for every 10 medical students. We organized our mentoring program in the following format: (1) an initial group meeting (mentor with all 10 medical students) and (2) subsequent one-on-one meetings (mentor with each mentee alone). We assessed mentor characteristics, student academic performance and satisfaction, and the rate of mentees referred for special support. Results: A total of 184 students completed the CSM rotation. Among these, 90 students responded to the preprogram survey, with 83% reporting that mentoring was important to them. Group meetings and one-on-one meetings were attended by 60% and 49% of all students, respectively. The most frequent type of support required by the participating students was psychological support (12% of mentees). Participation in the mentoring program had no significant effect on student academic performance. Mentor seniority ( P  = .024) and motivation ( P  = .002) were significantly associated with the rate of student referral for special support. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that academic mentoring can be effective in enhancing student outcomes and promoting special support for students. Moreover, mentor and mentee motivation were found to be essential elements of a successful mentoring program

Prevalence and molecular characterization of hepatitis D virus in Saudi Arabia: A single-center study

Background/Aims: Hepatitis D virus (HDV) is a defective RNA virus that is dependent on hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) for transmission and replication. HDV significance arises from the possibility of poor prognosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. In Saudi Arabia, HDV prevalence varied from 8 to 32% before the HBV vaccination program and ranged from 0 to 14.7% after the vaccination program was started. The last study, performed in 2004, showed a prevalence of 8.6% in hospital-based HBV cases and 3.3% in healthy donors. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and molecular characterization of HDV in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients at the King Abdulaziz University Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by molecular and serological techniques. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to detect HDV at the molecular level in Saudi Arabia. Patients and Methods: The study included samples from 182 CHB patients from Jeddah; 13 samples with HBsAg negative were excluded. Samples were tested for HDV-Ab, viral RNA by reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in the HDV L-Ag region and sequence analysis. Results: The mean age of the participants was 44.36 years; 75.1% of the participants were Saudi nationals, 58% were males. Nine samples were positive for HDV-Ab and four were borderline; all were subjected to RT-PCR amplification. Three of the positive HDV-Ab cases and 1 borderline case were positive by RT-PCR. All the positive cases had HBV genotype D, and the positive RT-PCR cases were positive for HBV DNA. One of the HDV viremic samples was of genotype 1 by sequencing. The prevalence of HDV in the study was 7.7%, which was lower in Saudis (6.3%) than in non-Saudis (11.9%). Conclusion: HDV coinfection does not seem to have an effect on the clinical status of the recruited CHB cases in this study. More studies are needed to investigate the genetic diversity in other areas such as the southern parts of the Kingdom