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BACKGROUND: Electronic prescribing systems (e-prescription) for medications have many benefits, including patient safety, increase in patient satisfaction, efficiency of pharmacy work, and quality of patient care. However, few studies have been conducted to evaluate the national e-prescription system "Wasfaty" service in Saudi Arabia, which was recently adopted. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to explore the benefits observed through the use of the system and most frequent challenges experienced by community pharmacists in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This study was conducted using a descriptive survey on a web-based platform. The target population of the study included community pharmacists in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia who worked in pharmacy chains utilizing the e-prescription service between September 2022 and November 2022. Descriptive statistics along with multiple ordinal regression were used for data analysis. RESULTS: The study population consisted of 124 pharmacists, of which 62.9% (78/124) were males and 37.1% (46/124) were females. Most of the participants had a positive perception of the e-prescription system with regard to medication safety, with 68.6% (85/124) indicating that e-prescriptions reduce the risk of dispensing errors. However, 81.5% (101/124) did not agree that the e-prescription system resulted in a reduction in workload, and 70.2% (87/124) disagreed that the service increased patient satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicated that the national e-prescription system has many benefits to healthcare employees and improves their work, particularly for patient safety, reducing medication errors, and improving the management of patient medications. The participants believe that there is a need to improve communication with prescribers, showing concern about the unavailability of some medications; thus, it is important for policymakers to encourage other pharmacy chains and suppliers to join the service to increase patient access to medications.
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Retained placenta is clinically diagnosed when the placenta has failed to deliver within 18 to 60 minutes after birth. The retained placenta is a risk factor for postpartum fever. In this paper, we report a patient with a delivery complicated by a retained placenta and postpartum fever. This patient, a 34-year-old pregnant female, was admitted at 32 weeks of gestation for a case of preterm labor with preterm premature rupture of membranes and bacterial vaginosis. A 2.5 kg infant was delivered by normal vaginal delivery, which was followed by active management of the third stage of labor. The retained placenta was removed manually under general anesthesia. Two days later, the patient developed a fever and elevated inflammatory markers. Ultrasound-guided evacuation and curettage were done, and two endometrial cavities were noted. Both cavities were evacuated of products of conception. Two days later, the patient started to have spikes of fever. Imaging revealed an intra-cavity soft tissue mass measuring 6.5 cm. Hysteroscopy with dilation and curettage was performed and showed fibrous bands covering a soft mass of products of conception, which was then evacuated.
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PURPOSE: Guidelines for managing neonatal hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN) recommend a selective approach in the use of direct antiglobulin test (DAT). In Saudi Arabia, many hospitals still perform routine DAT for all newborns. This study assessed the need for phototherapy in relation to DAT results in full-term healthy newborns. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of all healthy newborns admitted during 2018 was performed. The primary outcome was the association of positive DAT results with phototherapy. RESULTS: There were 1463 newborns born during the study period. The DAT was positive at 4.4%. The 24-hour bilirubin levels were higher in DAT-positive cases (P=0.06); however, peak bilirubin levels were not correlated with the DAT results (P=0.717). Thirty-six neonates (2.46%) required phototherapy, and the need was similar among DAT-positive and DAT-negative cases (P=0.271). The most common indication for phototherapy was clinical jaundice in 22 neonates (61.1%), followed by DAT positivity in 12 (33.3%) and hospital protocol in 2 patients (5.6%) (P <0.01 by chi-square overall comparison). CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that factors other than DAT positivity are important in assessing the need for phototherapy in newborns. Clinical signs of jaundice were indicators of high serum bilirubin levels and subsequent phototherapy, further indicating that the DAT test was overused in predicting the need for phototherapy.
