Ambient conditions of the operating theatre and its correlation with fatigue and sleep quality of operating room workers: a cross-sectional survey.

Background: Anesthesia providers face numerous occupational hazards, including exposure to anesthesia gases, which can lead to fatigue. These professionals face challenges such as night shifts, OR stress, limited mobility and sunlight access, high workload, inadequate rest breaks. Health-related sociodemographic variables, such as smoking, sleep patterns, and obesity. Our research aims to explore various risk factors associated with fatigue among operating theatre workers including sleep quality. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 227 of operating room healthcare professionals from five tertiary hospitals in Saudi Arabia, for a period of 6 months, between January 1, 2023 to June 1, 2023. The study used a five-point Likert scale sheet and the FSS "fatigue severity scale" to analyze and measure fatigue and sleep quality. The questionnaire included all socio-demographic variables, work conditions, and fatigue severity scale items. Results: The major findings revealed a significant correlation between fatigue severity scores and exposure to anesthesia gases. Socio-demographic variables such as smoking have showed major relevance to fatigue in the sample size, as (76.6%) of the participants that answered as regular smokers have showed result of positive correlation to fatigue and with a significant of (0.034). Out of the total sample, 76.1% were exposed to anesthesia gases once daily, showing a positive association with fatigue severity scores. Work-related factors like job experience and position also had a lower association with fatigue severity. p (0.031) Univariate logistic regression p (0.035). Conclusion: The study found that the work-related conditions like workload on Anesthesia technicians and technologists over 44 h per week and gas exposure is directly linked to fatigue severity and sleep quality so is the socio-demographic considerations. With poor sleep quality in younger staff which is documented in the study result a large-scale prospective analysis to understand the factors affecting OR staff's sleep quality and fatigue severity and what can be done to regulate working hours and break time and incorporate naps in to enhance patient safety and well-being for anesthesia providers in Saudi Arabia.

Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Toxoplasmosis among Jazan University Female Students.

BACKGROUND: In Saudi Arabia, the prevalence of toxoplasmosis is high. However, to date, few studies have evaluated the degree of knowledge on toxoplasmosis among females in Saudi Arabia. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and preventive behavior regarding toxoplasmosis among female students at Jazan University, Jazan, southwest Saudi Arabia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on a random sample of 440 female students at Jazan University using a semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire. Data with numerical/qualitative variables were expressed as frequency and percentage. Chi-square test was used to analyze categorical variables. P < 0.05 was used to indicate statistical significance. RESULTS: This study found that more than three-quarters (79.1%) of the students had insufficient knowledge about toxoplasmosis. Students from healthcare faculties had higher knowledge scores (28.5%) than students from arts and humanities (20.6%) and science (18.9%) faculties; however, the differences were not statistically significant (P = 0.77). The majority of the studied sample (92.3%) was found to eat fast food on a regular basis. About 42%, 54% and 4% of the respondents reported that they never, occasionally and always ate improperly washed vegetables, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that a substantial proportion of Jazan University's female students have insufficient knowledge on toxoplasmosis. Health educational programs are necessary to increase the awareness and knowledge about toxoplasmosis and its clinical manifestations.