Electronic Prescribing Usability: Reduction of Mental Workload and Prescribing Errors Among Community Physicians

Background: Medical errors are common in hospitals, and research is always needed to find ways of reducing these. This study attempts to address three gaps in this field. First, the factors leading to the reduction of mental workload and its relationship with the reduction of prescribing errors by improving electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) usability have not been empirically examined before. Second, the past research in the field of e-prescribing usability lacks robust theoretical models. Third, there are no existing studies to examine the direct influences of user interface consistency and error prevention with the reduction of mental workload and prescribing errors. Materials and Methods: A quantitative survey method was used to collect data from 188 community physicians. The partial least squares path modeling technique was applied to analyze the data. Results: Prescribing errors were reduced by improving the information quality, user interface consistency, system ease of use, and mental workload reduction. Mental workload is reduced by ease of use, error prevention, and consistency. No significant relationships between prescribing error reduction with error prevention and also between information quality with mental workload reduction were found. Conclusions: The designers of e-prescribing should improve the error prevention and consistency of the system and make it easy to use if they wish for the system to reduce users’ mental workload. They should also improve the system information quality, ease of use, and consistency if they claim that their system reduces physicians’ prescribing errors. The system should also reduce users’ mental workload to meet this objective

On-farm maize storage systems and rodent postharvest losses in six maize growing agro-ecological zones of Kenya

Rodents are one of the major postharvest pests that affect food security by impacting on both food availability and safety. However, knowledge of the impact of rodents in on-farm maize storage systems in Kenya is limited. A survey was conducted in 2014 to assess magnitudes of postharvest losses in on-farm maize storage systems in Kenya, and the contribution of rodents to the losses. A total of 630 farmers spread across six maize growing agro-ecological zones (AEZs) were interviewed. Insects, rodents and moulds were the main storage problems reported by farmers. Storage losses were highest in the moist transitional and moist mid-altitude zones, and lowest in the dry-transitional zone. Overall, rodents represented the second most important cause of storage losses after insects, and were ranked as the main storage problem in the lowland tropical zone, while insects were the main storage problem in the other AEZs. Where maize was stored on cobs, total farmer perceived (farmer estimation) storage weight losses were 11.1 ± 0.7 %, with rodents causing up to 43 % of these losses. Contrastingly, where maize was stored as shelled grain, the losses were 15.5 ± 0.6 % with rodents accounting for up to 30 %. Regression analysis showed that rodents contributed significantly to total storage losses (p < 0.0001), and identified rodent trapping as the main storage practice that significantly (p = 0.001) lowered the losses. Together with insecticides, rodent traps were found to significantly decrease total losses. Improved awareness and application of these practices could mitigate losses in on farm-stored maize

Projected Growth in Pharmacy Education and Research, 2010 to 2015

Objectives. To determine projected growth in pharmacy education and research from 2010 to 2015 and to relate findings to external and internal factors

Public awareness and the role of Islamic deposit insurance in promoting financial inclusion

Deposit Insurance Scheme is a safety-net instrument used by governments to ensure the stability of the banking systems and protect depositors in the event of bank failure. Islamic deposit insurance is a Shariah-compliant system that provides protection to depositors against this type of failure and reinforces consumer protection aspects inherent to Islam. The inculcation of Islamic deposit insurance will boost the potential and value proposition of Islamic finance, motivating non-users excluded due to lack of trust. This empirical research examines how a deposit insurance scheme for Islamic banks can enhance confidence and facilitate participation in the financial system. A sample of 412 depositors from both Islamic and conventional banks in Nigeria was used to determine the awareness level, knowledge and understanding of the potential of the Islamic deposit insurance scheme. The results suggest that the scheme offers a great opportunity and can lead to increase in access