Emotional Intelligence Among Medical Students in Palestine A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined as a pro-social behavior that deals with recognizing, understanding, influencing and managing our own and other’s emotions. In medical education and clinical practice, EI has been related to improves the doctor-patient relationship. Objectives: Measure EI among Palestinian medical students in two stages of their studies, clinical and basic sciences, and assessing the factors that may affect it. Moreover, compare medical students of Al-Quds and Al-Najah Universities regarding EI score and detect possible differences. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based, online survey was conducted among 692 medical students in Al-Quds and Al-Najah universities in Palestine. Emotional intelligence was evaluated using a 33-item scale as an index introduced by Schutte et al. (1998). Data was analyzed in a quantitative manner using SPSS (VER.20). Results: 745 students filled the questionnaire with a response rate of 92.88%. A total of 692 were sampled which were representative of the student population. The mean score of EI is 3.83 (SD=0.41) out of a maximum possible score of 5 with 69.1% of the sample having high EI. Statistics showed that EI decreased significantly at α≤0.05 among basic and clinical stages of study with a negative correlation between EI and academic year (PCC= -0.086). This indicates that as the academic year increases, EI decreases (p=0.023). Moreover, EI is affected significantly at α≤0.05 in a positive manner by having a hobby or doing extracurricular activities. In addition, students who indicate they always regret studying medicine tend to relate to lower EI, this may reflect the lack of interest to study this field. Conclusion: Medical students, both male and female, have a relatively high level of emotional intelligence in the universities that were studied. Students in the clinical stage have lower EI than basic sciences medical students, which indicates that students have a conflict between objectivity and humanity while training clinically. Therefore, emotional support during clinical years would serve in improving EI. Moreover, EI is affected by having a hobby or extracurricular activities, indicating that EI can be modulated through the encouragement of such activities

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Emotional Intelligence Among Medical Students in Palestine A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined as a pro-social behavior that deals with recognizing, understanding, influencing and managing our own and other’s emotions. In medical education and clinical practice, EI has been related to improves the doctor-patient relationship. Objectives: Measure EI among Palestinian medical students in two stages of their studies, clinical and basic sciences, and assessing the factors that may affect it. Moreover, compare medical students of Al-Quds and Al-Najah Universities regarding EI score and detect possible differences. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based, online survey was conducted among 692 medical students in Al-Quds and Al-Najah universities in Palestine. Emotional intelligence was evaluated using a 33-item scale as an index introduced by Schutte et al. (1998). Data was analyzed in a quantitative manner using SPSS (VER.20). Results: 745 students filled the questionnaire with a response rate of 92.88%. A total of 692 were sampled which were representative of the student population. The mean score of EI is 3.83 PalStudent Journal Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed tothe mentioned authors at the mentioned institutes. Copyright © 2020 Al-Quds University, Deanship of Scientific Research. All rights reserved. E-mail: [email protected] Palestine, Abu Dis, Al-Quds University (SD=0.41) out of a maximum possible score of 5 with 69.1% of the sample having high EI. Statistics showed that EI decreased significantly at α≤0.05 among basic and clinical stages of study with a negative correlation between EI and academic year (PCC= -0.086). This indicates that as the academic year increases, EI decreases (p=0.023). Moreover, EI is affected significantly at α≤0.05 in a positive manner by having a hobby or doing extracurricular activities. In addition, students who indicate they always regret studying medicine tend to relate to lower EI, this may reflect the lack of interest to study this field. Conclusion: Medical students, both male and female, have a relatively high level of emotional intelligence in the universities that were studied. Students in the clinical stage have lower EI than basic sciences medical students, which indicates that students have a conflict between objectivity and humanity while training clinically. Therefore, emotional support during clinical years would serve in improving EI. Moreover, EI is affected by having a hobby or extracurricular activities, indicating that EI can be modulated through the encouragement of such activities

Emotional Intelligence Among Medical Students in Palestine A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined as a pro-social behavior that deals with recognizing, understanding, influencing and managing our own and other’s emotions. In medical education and clinical practice, EI has been related to improves the doctor-patient relationship. Objectives: Measure EI among Palestinian medical students in two stages of their studies, clinical and basic sciences, and assessing the factors that may affect it. Moreover, compare medical students of Al-Quds and Al-Najah Universities regarding EI score and detect possible differences. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based, online survey was conducted among 692 medical students in Al-Quds and Al-Najah universities in Palestine. Emotional intelligence was evaluated using a 33-item scale as an index introduced by Schutte et al. (1998). Data was analyzed in a quantitative manner using SPSS (VER.20). Results: 745 students filled the questionnaire with a response rate of 92.88%. A total of 692 were sampled which were representative of the student population. The mean score of EI is 3.83 PalStudent Journal Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed tothe mentioned authors at the mentioned institutes. Copyright © 2020 Al-Quds University, Deanship of Scientific Research. All rights reserved. E-mail: [email protected] Palestine, Abu Dis, Al-Quds University (SD=0.41) out of a maximum possible score of 5 with 69.1% of the sample having high EI. Statistics showed that EI decreased significantly at α≤0.05 among basic and clinical stages of study with a negative correlation between EI and academic year (PCC= -0.086). This indicates that as the academic year increases, EI decreases (p=0.023). Moreover, EI is affected significantly at α≤0.05 in a positive manner by having a hobby or doing extracurricular activities. In addition, students who indicate they always regret studying medicine tend to relate to lower EI, this may reflect the lack of interest to study this field. Conclusion: Medical students, both male and female, have a relatively high level of emotional intelligence in the universities that were studied. Students in the clinical stage have lower EI than basic sciences medical students, which indicates that students have a conflict between objectivity and humanity while training clinically. Therefore, emotional support during clinical years would serve in improving EI. Moreover, EI is affected by having a hobby or extracurricular activities, indicating that EI can be modulated through the encouragement of such activities

Evaluation of a quality improvement intervention to reduce anastomotic leak following right colectomy (EAGLE): pragmatic, batched stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized trial in 64 countries

Background Anastomotic leak affects 8 per cent of patients after right colectomy with a 10-fold increased risk of postoperative death. The EAGLE study aimed to develop and test whether an international, standardized quality improvement intervention could reduce anastomotic leaks. Methods The internationally intended protocol, iteratively co-developed by a multistage Delphi process, comprised an online educational module introducing risk stratification, an intraoperative checklist, and harmonized surgical techniques. Clusters (hospital teams) were randomized to one of three arms with varied sequences of intervention/data collection by a derived stepped-wedge batch design (at least 18 hospital teams per batch). Patients were blinded to the study allocation. Low- and middle-income country enrolment was encouraged. The primary outcome (assessed by intention to treat) was anastomotic leak rate, and subgroup analyses by module completion (at least 80 per cent of surgeons, high engagement; less than 50 per cent, low engagement) were preplanned. Results A total 355 hospital teams registered, with 332 from 64 countries (39.2 per cent low and middle income) included in the final analysis. The online modules were completed by half of the surgeons (2143 of 4411). The primary analysis included 3039 of the 3268 patients recruited (206 patients had no anastomosis and 23 were lost to follow-up), with anastomotic leaks arising before and after the intervention in 10.1 and 9.6 per cent respectively (adjusted OR 0.87, 95 per cent c.i. 0.59 to 1.30; P = 0.498). The proportion of surgeons completing the educational modules was an influence: the leak rate decreased from 12.2 per cent (61 of 500) before intervention to 5.1 per cent (24 of 473) after intervention in high-engagement centres (adjusted OR 0.36, 0.20 to 0.64; P < 0.001), but this was not observed in low-engagement hospitals (8.3 per cent (59 of 714) and 13.8 per cent (61 of 443) respectively; adjusted OR 2.09, 1.31 to 3.31). Conclusion Completion of globally available digital training by engaged teams can alter anastomotic leak rates. Registration number: NCT04270721 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)

Search for Higgs and ZZ Boson Decays to J/ψγJ/\psi\gamma and Υ(nS)γ\Upsilon(nS)\gamma with the ATLAS Detector

A search for the decays of the Higgs and $Z$ bosons to $J/\psi\gamma$ and $\Upsilon(nS)\gamma$ ($n=1,2,3$) is performed with $pp$ collision data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to $20.3\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected at $\sqrt{s}=8\mathrm{TeV}$ with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess of events is observed above expected backgrounds and 95% CL upper limits are placed on the branching fractions. In the $J/\psi\gamma$ final state the limits are $1.5\times10^{-3}$ and $2.6\times10^{-6}$ for the Higgs and $Z$ bosons, respectively, while in the $\Upsilon(1S,2S,3S)\,\gamma$ final states the limits are $(1.3,1.9,1.3)\times10^{-3}$ and $(3.4,6.5,5.4)\times10^{-6}$, respectively