Knowledge and awareness of stroke and associated factors in the Saudi general population: a cross-sectional study

IntroductionStroke is a major cause of death and disability globally and in Saudi Arabia as well. Prevention and management of stroke depend highly on raising knowledge and awareness about the disease.PurposeThe purpose of this study was to evaluate Saudi adult's knowledge and awareness about stroke and determine the associated factors.Materials and methodsA cross-sectional online survey was conducted in May–July 2022 among Saudi citizens. Assessments of stroke knowledge about risk factors, symptoms, and response to stroke symptoms were evaluated. Logistic regression was conducted to assess the association between the socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge.ResultsA total of 389 participants were enrolled with the majority (81.7%) being male participants. Less than half of the study subjects (43.3%) identified four out of five correct answers related to general knowledge about stroke. Almost all the participants were able to identify at least one risk factor associated with stroke. The majority of the participants (81.2%) believed that physical inactivity was the most common risk factor associated with stroke. Approximately three-quarters of participants considered difficulty speaking and understanding speech, followed by the sudden loss of consciousness as the most common stroke manifestation. Participants with a history of hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity had significantly higher odds of identifying at least one early stroke symptom (OR 2.271 [95% CI 1.402 3.677], 2.059 [95% CI 1.273 3.328], and 2.665 [95% CI 1.431 4.963], respectively).ConclusionOur study revealed that participants have good knowledge about stroke. Nonetheless, further efforts are required to raise awareness and educate the public to optimize and ensure better treatment outcomes

Self-Medication with Antibiotics during COVID-19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region Countries:A Review

Self-treatment with medicines including treatment with antibiotics is a growing global concern, as it can cause public health problems, such as antibiotic resistance and drug toxicity. Therefore, the significance of the self-medication impact of COVID-19 in any region can have an influence on the prevalence of such problems. The review aimed to investigate the self-treatment with antibiotics among the general population in Eastern Mediterranean region countries during COVID-19 pandemic. A comprehensive review of literature in four databases was conducted for the pandemic period from January 2020 to the end of March 2022. Nine studies related to self-treatment with antibiotics were found. The studies were homogeneous in terms of assessing the antibiotic self-treatment usage during the COVID-19 pandemic among the general population and among community pharmacies. The prevalence of self-treatment with antibiotics ranged from 20.8% to 45.8% between the studies. The main reasons for that were cost-saving, fear of COVID-19 infection, quarantine, and ease of accessibility without time limits. Antibiotic self-treatment has been high during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it was less reported during the study period than before the time of the pandemic. There is a need for more restrictions on dispensing antibiotics from community pharmacies. In addition, there is a need to raise awareness among the population regarding self-treatment with antibiotics

Diabetes Knowledge and Practice in Malaysian and the United Arab Emirates Diabetic Patients

ABSTRACT The aim of the study is to investigate and to compare the current levels of the knowledge, attitude and the practice of people with diabetes in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. A cross-sectional prospective study, 403 diabetic patients were participating in this study, 202 Malaysian and 201 from the UAE. The data showed significant differences at the levels of the Knowledge, and the Practices between Malaysian and the UAE respondents with (P<0.001), while the good attitude was missing amongst the UAE respondents. This study had found that more than three quarter of Malaysian respondents (77.2%) were had a family history of diabetes compared to the UAE counterpart (64.7%). Interestingly, a high significant differences (P<0.001) were found in the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice scores between Malaysian and the UAE counterpart. The mean scores presented as (Mean ±SD) were higher in Malaysian than in the UAE study group; were knowledge scored (25.6±3.3 vs. 20.3±2.9), attitude (4.3±1.2 vs. 2.9±0.1) and practice (4.3±1.3 vs. 4.1±1.0). The UAE diabetic patients included in the study appeared to have poor knowledge, attitude and practice regarding their disease. These findings can be used to promote discussion in the profession and with stakeholders about any future diabetes care or to plan intervention strategies to promote awareness and reduce incidence of diabetes in this country. However, further work is needed to gauge the levels of the knowledge, attitude and the practice of people with diabetes in both countries

COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines: Do They Really Reflect Best Medical Practices to Manage the Pandemic?

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) has been changing the world since December 2019. A comprehensive search into many COVID-19 treatment guidelines was conducted and reported in this article. This is a review paper to probe differences in COVID-19 managing strategies and explore the most common treatment plans among countries. Published guidelines from 23 countries and three references guidelines—until the end of 2020—were included in this article. The majority of COVID-19 treatment options were reported in this review and it includes antiviral drugs, antimalarial drugs, antibiotics, corticosteroids, immunotherapy, anticoagulants, and other pharmacological treatment. The presence of such information from different countries in a single comprehensive review article could help in understanding and speculation of variation in the recommended treatment in each country. This might be related to the cost of medications, the access to the medications, availability of medication that could potentially be useful in managing COVID-19 cases, and the availability/capacity of healthcare facilities. Finally, although there are various treatment groups listed in the published therapeutic guidelines worldwide, unfortunately, there is no evidence for effectiveness of most of these medications in reducing the COVID-19 mortality curve over more than one year of this global pandemic

Telecare Service Use in Northern Ireland: Exploratory Retrospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Telecare is a health service that involves the home installation of a number of information technology support systems for individuals with complex needs, such as people with reduced mobility or disabilities and the elderly. It involves the use of sensors in patients’ homes to detect events, such as smoke in the kitchen, a front door left open, or a patient fall. In Northern Ireland (NI), outputs from these sensors are monitored remotely by the telecare team, who can provide assistance as required by telephone or through the emergency services. The facilitation of such rapid responses has the aim of promoting early intervention and therefore maintaining patient well-being. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to construct a descriptive summary of the telecare program in NI and evaluate hospital-based service use by telecare patients before and after the installation of telecare equipment. METHODS: An exploratory retrospective cohort study was conducted involving more than 2000 patients. Data analysis included the evaluation of health care use before and after the telecare service was initiated for individual participants. Individuals with data for a minimum of 6 months before and after the installation of the telecare service were included in this analysis. RESULTS: A total of 2387 patients were enrolled in the telecare service during the observation period (February 26, 2010-February 22, 2016). The mean age was 78 years (median 81 years). More women (1623/2387, 68%) were enrolled in the service. Falls detectors were the most commonly deployed detectors in the study cohort (824/1883, 43.8% of cases). The average number of communications (calls and/or alarms) between participants and the coordinating center was the highest for patients aged ≥85 years (mean 86 calls per year). These contacts were similarly distributed by gender. The mortality rate over the study period was higher in men than women (98/770, 14.4% in men compared to 107/1617, 6.6% in women). The number of nonelective hospital admissions, emergency room visits, and outpatient clinic visits and the length of hospital stays per year were significantly higher (P<.001) after the installation of the telecare equipment than during the period before installation. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the likely benefits of the telecare service in providing peace of mind for patients and their relatives, hospital-based health care use significantly increased after enrollment in the service. This likely reflects the increasing health care needs over time in an aging population

Health professions students’ approaches towards practice-driven ethical dilemmas; a case-based qualitative study

Abstract Background In healthcare practice, ethical challenges are inevitable and their optimal handling may potentialy improve patient care. Ethical development in medical education is critical for the transition from a medical and health sciences student to an ethical healthcare practitioner. Understanding the health professions students’ approaches towards practice-driven ethical dilemmas could harness i the effective ethical development in their medical education. This study attempts to identify the health professions students’ approaches towards practice-driven ethical dilemmas. Methods An inductive qualitative evaluation was conducted on six recorded videos of health professions students’ case-based online group discussions, followed by a one-hour online ethics workshop. The online ethics workshop was organized with students from the College of Medicine, College of Dental Medicine and College of Pharmacy at the University of Sharjah, and the College of Medicine at the United Arab Emirates University. . The recorded videos were transcribed verbatim and imported to the qualitative data analysis software of MAXQDA 2022. Data were analyzed applying four stages of review, reflect, reduce and retrieve and two different coders triangulated the findings. Results Six themes emerged from the qualitative analysis of the health professions students’ approaches to the practice-based ethical dilemmas; (1) emotions, (2) personal experiences, (3) law and legal system, (4) professional background, (5) knowledge of medical research and (6) inter-professional education. In addition, during the case-based group discussions in the ethics workshop, students efficiently applied the relevant ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice in their reasoning process to reach an ethical decision. Conclusion The findings of this study explained how health professions students resolve ethical dilemmas in their ethical reasoning process. This work sheds light on ethical development in medical education by gaining students’ perspectives in dealing with complex clinical scenarios. The findings from this qualitative evaluation will aid academic medical institutions in developing medical and research-based ethics curriculum to transform students to ethical leaders