33 research outputs found
Patients Comprehension of Pharmaceutical Package Inserts Information in Karachi, Pakistan
Purpose: To investigate the knowledge and attitude of outpatients regarding pharmaceutical package inserts (PPIs) in Karachi, Pakistan.Methods: The study design was cross-sectional and conducted from August to December 2013. A previously validated questionnaire was adopted, modified and revalidated. Outpatients were asked to respond to the questionnaire.Results: A total of 456 patients responded to the questionnaire. The patients (n = 226, 49 %) were found to be keen on reading inserts in their mother language. Among the study population, 24.1 % (n = 110) of respondents faced problem in reading and 29.8 % (n = 136) in understanding inserts. There was general awareness of the essential components of package inserts and 78.3 % (n = 357) of patients opted for further improvement in PPIs of drugs available in Pakistan. Chi square test revealed that educational status of patients was significantly associated with all of the items of the questionnaire (p < 0.05).Conclusion: The current status of PPIs of drugs available in local markets in Pakistan does not satisfy the patients’ criteria and, therefore, needs improvement. The findings of this study provide a direction necessary to overcome problems related to PPIs and hence promote safe and effective use of medicines.Keywords: Patients, Pharmaceutical package inserts, Awareness, Patients, Safe use of medicine
Validation of patients’ satisfaction regarding medications’ information questionnaire (Psmiq) in Karachi, Pakistan
SUMMARY. The aim of present study was to develop a validated patient satisfaction regarding medications’
information questionnaire (PSMIQ). It was an extra cultural adaptation of previous questionnaires
used in other part of the world. The PSMIQ was premeditated by an expert group of 15 physicians and 15
pharmacists from a formerly validated questionnaire. A preliminary draft of PSMIQ comprised of seventeen
items, with responses recorded on a five Likert scale. The internal validation of PSMIQ was approved
by conducting a cross-sectional and analytical study. Around one thousand and fifty patients participated
in present study. The validity of PSMIQ items was determined through factor analysis, and the reliability
was evaluated with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α). Cronbach alpha value for transformed 13-item questionnaire
was found to be 0.738. These items were assigned four sub scales. When compared it was observed
that these subscales were significantly correlated with one another (p < 0.01). Patient satisfaction
level for items regarding general information and usage instructions was above 70% however their satisfaction
regarding potential problems and cost issues was less than 40%. Their satisfaction was positively
associated with females for subscale 1 and 4 (p < 0.01). Responders who were stable had better total satisfaction
scores compared with unstable ones in response to subscale 1, 2 and 3. In response to item regarding
potential problematic issue, hypertension patients were 1.687 times more satisfied than patients suffering
from other diseases (OR = 1.687; 95% CI = 1.247-2.283). Patient satisfaction survey used in the present
study was found to be reliable and valid. Respondents were more satisfied regarding medications’ general
information and usage instructions, however not satisfied with information regarding potential problems
and cost issues
Prompt Identification of Sepsis on Hospital Floors: Are Healthcare Professionals Ready for the Implementation of the Hour-1 Bundle?
Comparative Analysis of Understanding of Pictograms among Pharmacy and Non-Pharmacy Students.
The objective of the present study was to evaluate awareness and significance of pictograms among pharmacy and non-pharmacy students. The study was conducted in two public and private sector institutes of Karachi during July to Oct 2013. Altogether 306 pharmacy and non pharmacy students participated in the study. A self administered questionnaire was used for this purpose. Nineteen pictograms from the USP-DI and corresponding set of 19 locally developed pictograms conveying the same medication instructions or messages were evaluated. Respondents were evaluated for their interpretation of all 38 pictograms. More than 98% of the pharmacy students agreed that pictograms attracts attention of people to provide information about medicine use. 97% considered that pictograms are used as universal language that can be easily understood by everyone and they are effective tools for educating the illiterate patients. 97.87% non pharmacy students agreed that patients are unfamiliar with medical terminologies and pictograms may be used to convey the medically significant information to patients. Both pharmacy and non pharmacy students preferred USP-DI pictograms over the pictograms of local origin. It is a need of time to introduce pictograms as a topic in curriculum of Pharm -D courses like Dispensing Pharmacy, Hospital pharmacy and Community pharmacy so that during professional life pharmacist can use these tools to improve patient counseling techniques. It is a way to maximize patient care and provide patient education regardless of any barrier
Pervasiveness of scholastic duplicity and plagiarism among the pharmacy students in Pakistan
The present study was conducted with the aim to identify pharmacy student
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
Utilization and impact of electronic and print media on the patients’ health status: physicians’ perspectives
Aims: Despite an increased popularity of print and electronic media applications,
there is a paucity of data reflecting doctors’ opinions regarding efficient utilization
of these resources for the betterment of public health. Hence, this study aimed to
investigate the perception of physicians toward the effect of electronic and print
media on the health status of patients. Setting and Design: The current research
is a cross-sectional study conducted from January 2015 to July 2015. The study
population comprised physicians rendering their services in different hospitals
of Karachi, Pakistan, selected by the nonprobability convenience sampling
technique. In this study, 500 questionnaires were distributed through email or
direct correspondence. Methods and Materials: Physicians’ perception toward the
impact of electronic and print media on the health status of patients was assessed
with a 20-item questionnaire. Different demographic characteristics, such as age,
gender, institution, position, and experience of respondents, were recorded.
Quantitative data were analyzed with the use of Statistical Package for Social
Sciences, version 20.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL). The association of the demographic
characteristics of the responses of physicians was determined by one-way
ANOVA using 0.05 level of significance. Results: In this study, 254 physicians
provided consent to show their responses for research purposes. A response
rate of 50.8% was obtained. Nearly one-third of the respondents negated that
patients get health benefit using electronic and print media. The majority did
not consider electronic and print media as lifestyle-modifying factors. Physicians
thought that patients particularly do not rely on mass media for acquiring health
information and consider healthcare professionals as unswerving information
resource. Conclusions: Mass media can be productive resources to augment
awareness among patients, although physicians seem unconvinced about the
extended usage of print/electronic media
The Approach of Pharmacy Students Towards Communication of Medication Errors in Karachi, Pakistan
Purpose: To assess pharmacy students’ knowledge of communicating medication errors in Karachi, Pakistan.Methods: The study design was cross-sectional and conducted from February to May 2014. A previously validated questionnaire was adopted, modified and distributed to final year pharmacy students in four universities of Karachi. Descriptive statistics were used to present students’ demographic information and their response to the questionnaire items. Pearson chi square test and Logistic regression model were executed to evaluate the association of gender and institution of students with their response.Results: Out of 600 survey questionnaires distributed, only 464 were returned in useable form, giving a response rate of 77.33 %. A majority of the students showed moderately positive attitude towards general communication and training in communicating medication errors. More than 40 % of the respondents were not satisfied with the training they received in communicating and reporting incidence of medication errors. Incorrect drug (14.65 %), incorrect dose (8.40 %) and improper storage of medicines (7.97 %) were the most common errors observed by the students during clerkship.Conclusion: The findings indicate the need for a more standardized approach to improving knowledge of medication errors as well as training in the communication of occurrence of medication errors.Keywords: Communication, Medication error, Pharmacy students, Standardized trainin
Healthcare Professionals’ Practice of HIV Post-Exposure Prophylaxis in Clinical Settings in Karachi, Pakistan
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an important public health concern that has become more prevalent in Pakistan in recent decades. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) are frequently exposed to many HIV-infected patients; as a result, they are more vulnerable to HIV infection due to occupational exposure. Hence, the current study was executed to evaluate HCPs’ knowledge, attitude and practice in
terms of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for HIV. This cross-sectional study was carried out in several
clinical and laboratory settings of Karachi and the HCPs involved in treating patients were surveyed using a
structured questionnaire. The Shapiro–Wilk test was performed to establish the normality of the variables.
Pearson correlation was employed to identify the relationship between the independent variables considering
p-values < 0.05 as statistically significant. A total of 578 filled forms were incorporated in the study with a
response rate of 72.2%. Physicians and medical students (OR = 1.68; 95% CI = 1.16–2.24; p = 0.001) belonging to private work settings (OR = 1.84; 95% CI = 1.33–2.35; p < 0.003) indicated better knowledge. The majority, 407 (70.4%), of the respondents reported having been exposed to risky occupational circumstances during their professional life; however, 65.7% took PEP for HIV after exposure and only 56.8% completed the entire course. A statistically significant association was observed between experience (p = 0.004, CI = 0.14–0.72), job category (p = 0.0001, CI = 0.16–0.62) and frequency of exposure (p = 0.003, CI = 0.42–11.31) and reporting of occupational exposure. More than half (53.8%) of respondents stated that their institute has a policy for the management of HIV exposures; however, their response was significantly associated with their organization (p = 0.004). The current study shows adequate knowledge revealing a positive attitude among respondents;
however, there was a gap between the knowledge and its practical application. Even though many of the HCPs had experienced risky HIV exposure, a lack of reporting was noted in the study