Factors Affecting the Satisfaction of Women Employees in Health Sector: A Perception Study in Saudi Arabia.

Purpose: Broad evidence points out that women workers in Saudi Arabia face a range of inequitable work practices despite continued efforts for gender equality. The study aims to assess the satisfaction of Saudi women working in the health sector among certain factors in the work environment, factors that enable them to gain opportunities and benefits and make decisions. Patients and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, which involved the use of closed-ended surveys on 261 Saudi women working in the healthcare sector. Results: Most of the females were aged between 25 and 34 years (59%) and more than half of them worked in the governmental sector (53%). Fifty-eight percent of the females hold clinical jobs, 25% of the administrative jobs were 37% of them have more than 19 years of working experience. The finding showed a significant association between female workers in health sector satisfaction with factors related to the workplace environment, training, and development, and their involvement in decision-making. Conclusion: Most women felt empowered when they received equitable tasks and were able to reach managerial-level positions in their organizations. Establishing a positive work environment characterized by opportunities has the potential to enhance women workers' satisfaction.

Obesity-Related Knowledge and Practice Among the Healthcare Professions Students in Saudi Arabia.

Objective: The objectives of this study are to identify the prevalence and the factors behind overweight and obesity among the healthcare profession's students. Methods: A well-structured and validated questionnaire was distributed to a heterogeneous purposive sample of the healthcare profession's students in Saudi Arabia. Results: About 21.0% and 15.5% were overweight and obese, respectively. The average knowledge score was 70.6% and increased with age and among obese participants. The average attitude score was 74.8% with no variation within age, body mass index (BMI), and gender. The average practice score was only 36.7%. There was a significant variation of the practice within the different age groups (P = 0.021). There was a significant association between the participant's knowledge and attitude, and practice. Conclusion: The average practice score was poor. Despite their good knowledge and positive attitude, the students are exposed to heavy junk food marketing, which encourages overconsumption by instilling positive emotional associations with the junk food. They are mostly physically inactive, anxious and sleep deprived, which can lead to poor eating habits. For this group, various strategies and motivators will likely be needed.

A Multicenter Study to Determine Knowledge and Perceptions on Stem Cell Donation, Transplantation Among Saudi Medical Students.

BACKGROUND: Despite significant contributions to stem cell research in Saudi Arabia, knowledge and awareness of stem cell research is the subject of ongoing studies with controversial findings, specifically among medical students. This was a cross-sectional study with 685 medical students aimed to explore their knowledge and attitudes in relation to stem cell research and transplantation. METHODS: A validated survey exploring knowledge and attitudes in relation to stem cell research and transplantation was administered. The total knowledge, attitude, and age scores were presented through mean and SD RESULTS: The results of the present study showed that university students in the Eastern Province had an average 35.88 knowledge of stem cell research. In contrast, the attitudes were positive among the entire study sample, with a mean of 3.79 out of 5. Both men and women had significant knowledge about the definition of stem cells and adult stem cells, bone marrow, whether stem cells can be used for drug testing, and recommended stem cell treatment if available. CONCLUSIONS: The medical curriculum needs to be refined and enriched with additional data on organ and stem cell donation. This can be further enriched with experimental evidence through additional training initiatives that will allow those with negative attitudes to re-evaluate their perceptions and provide accurate information to patients as future health care providers.

The Association of Body Mass Index with COVID-19 Complications and Survival Rate at a Tertiary Hospital.

A high body mass index (BMI) is a known risk factor for coronavirus infection in hospitalized patients. Our study examined the association between BMI and complications and the survival rate among COVID-19 patients. This retrospective analysis used data from a tertiary hospital in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia during two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study included 600 participants, with the majority being between 41 and 60 years old (41.3%) and men comprising 63.5% of the sample. Approximately 42.5% of patients were obese, and 31.3% were overweight. The results showed that BMI was significantly linked to respiratory diseases (p = 0.013); end-stage renal disease (p = 0.021); and cardiovascular disease (p = 0.003) but not diabetes mellitus (p = 0.064). Death occurred in 10.8% of patients; 33.8% were admitted to the ICU; 13.8% needed mechanical ventilation; and 60.7% had lung infiltration. Obese patients with oxygen saturation levels below 93% were 2.45 times more likely to require mechanical ventilation than those in the normal-weight group. Overweight and obese patients were also more likely to require mechanical ventilation than normal-weight patients, with odds ratios of 3.66 and 2.81, respectively. The BMI categorized was not associated with survival rate in COVID-19-hospitalized patients using Kaplan-Meier survival plots (p = 0.061). However, the BMI categorized was associated with survival rate in COVID-19 ICU patients (p < 0.001). In addition, the overweight showed a statistically significant higher hazard ratio of 2.22 (p = 0.01) compared to normal-weight patients using a Cox regression model. A high BMI was identified as an independent risk factor for reduced oxygen saturation (<93%), the need for mechanical ventilation, lung infiltration, mortality, and longer ICU stays in COVID-19 patients.

The impact of age, gender and fasting blood glucose on serum lipid profile at tertiary care hospital: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: This relatively large retrospective study explores the impact of age, gender and fasting blood glucose level on lipid profile. It has been known that many factors could influence the lipid profile. It is crucial to investigate these relationships as dyslipidemia has been linked to many critical diseases such as cardiovascular disease.   Methods:Data of 3115 individuals were collected include the age, gender, total serum cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), triglyceride (TGL) and fasting glucose levels at King Fahad Military Medical Complex's Clinical Chemistry Laboratory, Dhahran, from January 2019 to July 2019.   Results: The results shows that people who were 65 years or older had significant association with total cholesterol (p<0.001), LDL (p-value= 0.001) and triglycerides (p-value= 0.001). Regarding gender,  women, in general, are 1.2 times more likely to have hypercholesterolemia than men. Diabetes was significantly associated with all lipid profile parameters.   Conclusions: There is a variable association between lipid profile with age, gender, and fasting glucose.