The knowledge and attitudes towards recent regulations on complementary and alternative medicine among students and faculty members in Bezmialem University School of Medicine (BVUSOM)

824-829Turkish government published a 'Regulation on Traditional and Complementary Medical Therapies’ (CAM) in 2014. We aimed at assessing the knowledge and the thoughts of medical students and faculty members of BVUSOM on this regulation of Ministry of Health. All the students and faculty members were included in the research (in 2017-2018 academic year). Five hundred thirteen medical faculty students (68.8% of all students) and 90 teaching faculty members (57.7% of the all faculty members) participated to the study. One hundred and forty-eight (28.8%) of the students and 57 (63.3%) of faculty members reported that they know the legal regulation. At least one of the treatment methods suggested in the regulation was applied by 83 (16.2%) of the students. Four hundred (77.9%) of the students and 61 (67.8%) of the faculty members would like to be educated well enough so that they could treat their patients in any area of CAM. Medical students were more likely to show interest in receiving a training in CAM techniques than faculty members (p=0.03). As CAM is still very new area of interest in Turkey. There are several strategies to integrate it to current medical education, including: embedding lectures, organizing multidisciplinary meetings, scheduling elective rotations and informing faculty members

Workplace violence against medical students- A Turkish perspective

Background: Workplace violence against healthcare providers including the medical students being an important issue all over the world. The aim of this study is to survey the medical students about exposure to workplace violence (WPV) while they are doing their medical training in private tertiary hospitals. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out among all medical students (4th, 5th, and 6th class) attending a teaching hospital at Bezmialem Vakif University (BVU), Istanbul, Turkey. A total of 150 students in the 2017-2018 academic year were recruited in this study. Data were collected using a modified questionnaire through a face to face interview. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16. Results: About one-third of the surveyed students (54, 36.0%) exposed to violence and 71.3% of them witnessed incidents of violence against healthcare providers at the workplace. The prevalence of physical violence and verbal abuse among medical students was reported at 5.5% and 92.6% respectively. About 81.5% were females compared to 18.5% of their counterparts. Patients (38.9%) and their relatives (61.1%) were the main sources of the violence respectively. More than half (57.0%) of students exposed to violence at outpatient services and 25.9% at the emergency room and 16.7% at inpatient wards. Few of them (22, 14.7%) thought that they will get support if they make a complaint. Conclusion: Being a medical student and has direct contact with patients and their relative is not always safe practice. Our results suggested a high prevalence of verbal and physical abuse against medical students. Health sector authorities should adopt a restrictive and clear strategy to protect medical students and other healthcare providers

The knowledge and attitudes towards recent regulations on complementary and alternative medicine among students and faculty members in Bezmialem University School of Medicine (BVUSOM)

Turkish government published a 'Regulation on Traditional and Complementary Medical Therapies’ (CAM) in 2014. We aimed at assessing the knowledge and the thoughts of medical students and faculty members of BVUSOM on this regulation of Ministry of Health. All the students and faculty members were included in the research (in 2017-2018 academic year). Five hundred thirteen medical faculty students (68.8% of all students) and 90 teaching faculty members (57.7% of the all faculty members) participated to the study. One hundred and forty-eight (28.8%) of the students and 57 (63.3%) of faculty members reported that they know the legal regulation. At least one of the treatment methods suggested in the regulation was applied by 83 (16.2%) of the students. Four hundred (77.9%) of the students and 61 (67.8%) of the faculty members would like to be educated well enough so that they could treat their patients in any area of CAM. Medical students were more likely to show interest in receiving a training in CAM techniques than faculty members (p=0.03). As CAM is still very new area of interest in Turkey. There are several strategies to integrate it to current medical education, including: embedding lectures, organizing multidisciplinary meetings, scheduling elective rotations and informing faculty members

Impact of conflict related and workplace related violence on job satisfaction among physicians from Iraq - a descriptive cross-sectional multicentre study

Background: During the last decade, the events of violence against healthcare providers have been escalated, especially in the areas of conflicts. This study aimed to test the impact of conflict-related and workplace-related violence on job satisfaction among Iraqi physicians. Methods: A cross-sectional study with a self-administered survey was conducted among medical doctors in Iraq from January to June 2014. Participants (n=535, 81.1% response rate) were selected at random from 20 large general and district hospitals using a multistage sampling technique. Results: The mean (+SD) value on the total job satisfaction score was 42.26 (+14.63). The majority of respondents (67.3%) experienced unsafe medical practice; however, the conflict- related violence showed no significant difference in job satisfaction scores. In backward regression analysis, two socio-demographic variables (age, gender), and three work-related variables (being a specialist, working less than 40 hours per week, working in both government and private sector) were positively related to job satisfaction, while the workplace violence variables were negatively related. It was found that increases in physical attack, verbal abuse, bullying, and racial harassment brought about decreases in job satisfaction scores of 6,087, 3.014, 9,107, and 4,242, respectively. Conclusion: Our results suggest that work-related variables and workplace violence do affect job satisfaction. Specifically, when physicians have been physically attacked, verbally abused, bullied, and racially harassed, their job satisfaction decreases significantly

Impact of conflict related and workplace related violence on job satisfaction among physicians from Iraq - a descriptive cross-sectional multi centre study

Background: During the last decade the events of violence against healthcare providers have been escalated, especially in the areas of conflicts. This study aimed to test the impact of conflict-related and workplace -related violence on job satisfaction among Iraqi physicians. Methods: A cross sectional study with a self-administered survey was conducted among medical doctors in Iraq from January to June 2014. Participants (n=535, 81.1% response rate) were selected at random from 20 large general and district hospitals using multistage sampling technique. Results: The mean (+SD) value on the total job satisfaction score was 42.26 (SD = 14.63). Majority of respondents (67.3%) experienced unsafe medical practice, however, the conflict- related violence showed no significant difference on job satisfaction scores. In backward regression analysis, two socio-demographic variables (age, gender), and three work-related variables (being a specialist, working less than 40 hours per week, working in both government and private sector) were positively related to job satisfaction, while the workplace violence variables were negatively related. It was found that increases in physical attack, verbal abuse, bullying and racial harassment brought about decreases in job satisfaction scores of 6,087, 3.014, 9,107 and 4,242 respectively. Conclusion: Our results suggest that work related variables and workplace violence really do have an effect on job satisfaction. Specifically, when physicians have been physically attacked, verbally abused, bullied and racially harassed, their job satisfaction decreases significantly

Knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 among Libyan people- a web-based cross-sectional study

Background: Successful plans in disaster and epidemics management depend on the feedback response and the assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and practices among the target population. This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 among Libyan people.  Methods: A cross-sectional web-based survey designed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 among the Libyan people from 13-20 October 2020. A self-administered questionnaire was recruited to collect the data of 287 participants. SPSS version 16.0 was used to analyze the data using univariate and multivariable regression data analyses. Results: More than half of respondents were males (53.7%), married (61.3%), aged less than 45 years old, highly educated (46.3%), employed (44.6%), urban resident(79.8%), experience good or very good health (71.1%) and earned more than USD 200 monthly (84.3.%). The participants showed a high rate of good knowledge (81.0%), attitude (71.1%), and practice (83.7%) towards COVID-19, respectively. Regression analysis showed that married (P=0.056), female (P=0.037), living in the urban regions (P<0.001) with good income of more than USD 2020 (P=0.001) were significantly associated with upper knowledge score. Females (P=0.040) were more significantly associated with positive attitude scores than males. Regarding practice score, married (P=0.001), females (P=0.059) had better practice, but poor-rated health status (P=0.018) was significantly associated with the weak practice. Conclusion: The distinction of urban regions with good knowledge, optimistic attitudes, and acceptable practices towards COVID-19 determines the government's action compass towards more interest in supporting males, unhealthy, and those living in the rural areas with accurate and timely knowledge

Predictors of emotional exhaustion among physicians from Iraq - a descriptive cross-sectional multicentre study

Background: Doctors and paramedics in countries suffering from long-acting conflicts, including Iraq, are working in severe and exceptional conditions, putting them under severe physical and psychological pressure, therefore examining burnout is important when dealing with the quality of care and working conditions. This study aimed to assess the point prevalence and to explore factors associated with emotional exhaustion (EE) among medical doctors in Iraq. Methods: Descriptive and a cross-sectional study was conducted (January to June 2014) among a randomly selected sample of medical doctors (n=576, 87.3% response rate) working in twenty large general hospitals and medical centers. In addition to EE, the self-administered questionnaire used was consisting of questions on sociodemographic, work-related characteristics, conflict-related variables, and job satisfaction. EE was measured using the emotional exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Results: The prevalence of EE reported by 60.0% of the respondents. In multiple linear regression analysis, the emotional burnout was higher among doctors who were married, female, bearing children, being threatened, displaced internally, non-specialist doctors, working more than 40 hours per week, experienced unsafe medical practice, disagreed with the way manager handle the staff and those who reported that the doctor-patient relationship as not excellent.  Conclusion: Our findings suggest that job dissatisfaction, conflict, and violence-related factors were significantly associated with a high level of emotional exhaustion among Iraqi physicians

Internet addiction, fatigue, and sleep problems among adolescent students: a large-scale study

Aim: The aim of the present study was to examine the association between Internet Addiction (IA), fatigue, and sleep problems among university students. Methods: A total of 3,000 Turkish students aged 18 to 25 years were approached and 2,350 students (78.3%) participated in this cross-sectional study from April 2017 to September 2017 in public and private universities in Istanbul. Data were collected via a structured questionnaire including socio-demographic details, lifestyle and dietary habits, Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Fatigue Scale, and Epworth Sleepiness Scale [ESS]. Descriptive statistics, multivariate and factorial analyses were performed. Results: The overall prevalence of IA among the studied population was 17.7%. There were significant differences between gender, family income, father’s occupation, school performance, frequency and duration of watching television, physical activity, internet use duration, and sleep duration (all p<0.001). Significant differences were also found between participants with IA and those without IA in having headaches, blurred vision, double vision, hurting eyes, hearing problems, and eating fast food frequently (all p<0.001). Using multivariate regression analysis, the duration of internet use, physical and mental symptoms, headache, hurting eyes, tired eyes, hearing problems and ESS scores were significantly associated with (and primary predictors of) IA. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that IA was associated with poor dietary habits, sleep problems, and fatigue symptoms