Measuring depression and anxiety prevalence among Iraqi healthcare college students using hospital anxiety and depression scale

Objective: The study aimed to 1) measure the prevalence of depression and anxiety among Iraqi pharmacy and medical students at a number of universities in Baghdad using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and 2) investigate the association between various sociodemographic factors and students’ HADS scores. Methods: This study was based on a cross-sectional descriptive design in four universities in Baghdad, Iraq. Depression and anxiety were screened using an Arabic version of the HADS. An online survey was administered via Qualtrics to convenience samples of students at four colleges of pharmacy and a college of medicine between March and June 2018. Multiple linear regression was used to identify factors associated with depression and anxiety symptoms among the participants. Results: The researchers received 750 usable surveys. The participating students spent more time browsing social media (6.64 hours/day) than studying (1.92 hours/day) and exercising (2.83 hours/week). Approximately forty-six percent (45.9%) of the participants had scores that indicated depression symptoms and one-quarter (24.8%) had scores that indicated depression borderline symptoms. More than one-half (52.1%) of the participants had scores that indicated anxiety symptoms, while 20.1% had scores that indicated anxiety borderline symptoms. According to the multiple linear regression analysis, more depression and anxiety symptoms were significantly (p-value <0.05) associated with higher study hours weekly and lower sleep hours at night, academic achievement, and colleagues and family social support during exams. Conclusions: Pharmacy and medical students may be vulnerable to depression and anxiety because of long study hours.. To reduce their levels of anxiety and depression, they may need more social support, more exercise, more sleep, less social media use and a lower academic workload (AU)

Barriers to healthcare access for Arabic-speaking population in an English-speaking country.

OBJECTIVE: To identify barriers to healthcare access, to assess the health literacy levels of the foreign-born Arabic speaking population in Iowa, USA and to measure their prevalence of seeking preventive healthcare services. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of native Arabic speaking adults involved a focus group and an anonymous paper-based survey. The focus group and the Andersen Model were used to develop the survey questionnaire. The survey participants were customers at Arabic grocery stores, worshippers at the city mosque and patients at free University Clinic. Chi-square test was used to measure the relationship between the characteristics of survey participants and preventive healthcare services. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the focus group transcript. RESULTS: We received 196 completed surveys. Only half of the participants were considered to have good health literacy. More than one-third of the participants had no health insurance and less than half of them visit clinics regularly for preventive measures. Two participant enabling factors (health insurance and residency years) and one need factor (having chronic disease(s)) were found to significantly influence preventive physician visits. CONCLUSIONS: This theory-based study provides a tool that can be used in different Western countries where Arabic minority lives. Both the survey and the focus group agreed that lacking health insurance is the main barrier facing their access to healthcare services. The availability of an interpreter in the hospital is essential to help those with inadequate health literacy, particularly new arriving individuals. More free healthcare settings are needed in the county to take care of the increasing number of uninsured Arabic speaking patients.

Pharmacist intervention to enhance postoperative fluid prescribing practice in an Iraqi hospital through implementation of NICE guideline.

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the current practice of postoperative fluid prescribing and assess the effectiveness of pharmacist-led intervention in the implementation of the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) fluid therapy guideline in an Iraqi hospital. METHODS: The prospective interventional study was conducted at AL-Hilla Teaching Hospital, Babylon, Iraq between November 2017 and July 2018. The study included two phases: The pre-intervention phase with 84 patients and the post-intervention phase with 112 patients. A pharmacist provided training and educational sessions for the hospital physicians and pharmacists about the NICE guideline of fluid therapy. The researcher calculated the amount of given post-operative fluids and compared to the NICE guideline and also measured the patients' body weight, serum Na, K and creatinine pre-and post-operatively. RESULTS: The pre-intervention phase showed no correlation between the amounts of prescribed fluids and body weight which caused increases in patients' body weight. In pre-intervention phase, 6% of patients experienced hyponatremia, 19% had hypernatremia and 7.1% had hypokalemia. In the post-intervention phase, abnormal level of electrolytes and patient weight gain decreased significantly. Additionally, the intervention led to a strong correlation between body weight and amount of prescribed fluids in addition to lowering the incidence of electrolyte disturbances. CONCLUSIONS: A high proportion of patients in the pre-intervention phase experienced fluid overload, weight gain and electrolyte disturbances when fluid therapy was not prescribed in accordance with the NICE guidelines. The pharmacist-led intervention increased the surgeon awareness of the proper use of the NICE guideline which decreased the incidence of fluid-related complications and the inconsistency of fluid prescribing. Pharmacists can play a critical role to enhance post-operative fluid prescribing and minimize fluid-induced complications.

Pharmacist intervention to enhance postoperative fluid prescribing practice in an Iraqi hospital through implementation of NICE guideline

Objective: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the current practice of postoperative fluid prescribing and assess the effectiveness of pharmacist-led intervention in the implementation of the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) fluid therapy guideline in an Iraqi hospital. Methods: The prospective interventional study was conducted at AL-Hilla Teaching Hospital, Babylon, Iraq between November 2017 and July 2018. The study included two phases: The pre-intervention phase with 84 patients and the post-intervention phase with 112 patients. A pharmacist provided training and educational sessions for the hospital physicians and pharmacists about the NICE guideline of fluid therapy. The researcher calculated the amount of given post-operative fluids and compared to the NICE guideline and also measured the patients' body weight, serum Na, K and creatinine pre-and post-operatively. Results: The pre-intervention phase showed no correlation between the amounts of prescribed fluids and body weight which caused increases in patients' body weight. In pre-intervention phase, 6% of patients experienced hyponatremia, 19% had hypernatremia and 7.1% had hypokalemia. In the post-intervention phase, abnormal level of electrolytes and patient weight gain decreased significantly. Additionally, the intervention led to a strong correlation between body weight and amount of prescribed fluids in addition to lowering the incidence of electrolyte disturbances. Conclusions: A high proportion of patients in the pre-intervention phase experienced fluid overload, weight gain and electrolyte disturbances when fluid therapy was not prescribed in accordance with the NICE guidelines. The pharmacist-led intervention increased the surgeon awareness of the proper use of the NICE guideline which decreased the incidence of fluid-related complications and the inconsistency of fluid prescribing. Pharmacists can play a critical role to enhance post-operative fluid prescribing and minimize fluid-induced complications

No disponible

Measuring the health literacy level of Arabic speaking population in Saudi Arabia using translated health literacy instruments.

BACKGROUND: Health literacy is an essential predictor of health status, disease control and adherence to medications. OBJECTIVES: The study goals were to assess the health literacy level of the general population in Saudi Arabia using translated Gulf Arabic version of the short-version of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA) and Single Item Literacy Screener (SILS) tests and to measure the relationship between health literacy and education level. METHODS: The study was a cross-sectional with a convenience sample of 123 participants from the general population in Riyadh. Data were collected using the modified (Gulf) Arabic versions of both S-TOFHLA and SILS. Fisher's Exact test was used to measure the difference of the health literacy scores according to the education degrees and Cronbach's alpha was used to measure the internal consistency of the S-TOFHLA items. RESULTS: More than half (55.4%) of the participants were male, 50.4% had a middle school or less education level, and we found that 84.4% had adequate health literacy as measured by the S-TOFHLA, compared to 49.6% as measured by SILS. The Fisher's Exact test showed a significant difference (P<.05) in the S-TOFHLA and SILS scores according to education categories. CONCLUSIONS: The level of education has a significant positive association with S-TOFHLA and SILS results. The Gulf Arabic version of S-TOFHLA is a reliable test with a good internal consistency and a significant positive correlation between the two parts of S-TOFHLA. We recommend the use of S-TOFHLA or SILS at the first patient visit.

Measuring the health literacy level of Arabic speaking population in Saudi Arabia using translated health literacy instruments

Background: Health literacy is an essential predictor of health status, disease control and adherence to medications. Objectives: The study goals were to assess the health literacy level of the general population in Saudi Arabia using translated Gulf Arabic version of the short-version of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA) and Single Item Literacy Screener (SILS) tests and to measure the relationship between health literacy and education level. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional with a convenience sample of 123 participants from the general population in Riyadh. Data were collected using the modified (Gulf) Arabic versions of both S-TOFHLA and SILS. Fisher's Exact test was used to measure the difference of the health literacy scores according to the education degrees and Cronbach's alpha was used to measure the internal consistency of the S-TOFHLA items. Results: More than half (55.4%) of the participants were male, 50.4% had a middle school or less education level, and we found that 84.4% had adequate health literacy as measured by the S-TOFHLA, compared to 49.6% as measured by SILS. The Fisher's Exact test showed a significant difference (P<.05) in the S-TOFHLA and SILS scores according to education categories. Conclusions: The level of education has a significant positive association with S-TOFHLA and SILS results. The Gulf Arabic version of S-TOFHLA is a reliable test with a good internal consistency and a significant positive correlation between the two parts of S-TOFHLA. We recommend the use of S-TOFHLA or SILS at the first patient visit

No disponible

Physician-pharmacist agreement about off-label use of medications in private clinical settings in Baghdad, Iraq.

OBJECTIVE: 1) To evaluate the relationship between physician-pharmacist agreement about the off-label drug use and 2) and to identify the most common off-label medication category/indications and prescriber clinical disciplines in private settings in Baghdad area, Iraq. METHODS: This study evaluated 980 off-label use requests in the private clinical settings within Baghdad area, Iraq from October 2013 to September 2015. The efficacy, safety, and convenience of each drug request and its alternative options were evaluated according to the patient health and demographic characteristics and standard guidelines. RESULTS: Of the 980 physician off-label requests, only 22.7% were approved by the pharmacists. Rheumatology and Nephrology accounted for the highest ratio of off-label use requests for adults (30.3% and 26.3%). The pharmacist rejection ratio of off-label use was comparable between the two groups (p>0.05). Most of the issued requests were attributed either to unapproved indication or to combination of more than one drug (38% and 35.3%). A low acceptance rate was reported in the requests issued for treatment in different clinical lines to the authorized one (11.9%). The lowest rate of acceptance was reported in the requests that had very low evidence level (9.1%). The mostly prescribed medications were musculoskeletal agents (28.9%). Finally, 78.2% of the requests came from clinical branches for adults. Although the agreement rate for requests in adults was higher than that in pediatrics, the two rates were not significantly different. CONCLUSION: Community pharmacists should effectively take responsibility for assessing off-label drug requests in Iraqi private settings. The quality of evidence does not represent the major factor influencing the approval rate of off-label drug use. The availability of safer and/or affordable alternatives and prescribing for a different patient age category highly impacted the pharmacists' approval rate.

Antimicrobial utilization in an Iraqi province: a comprehensive evaluation of antibiotic source and cost.

PURPOSE: The aims were to calculate total systemic antibiotic consumption and cost in both public and private sectors in all care settings in Al-Najaf province, Iraq, during 2012, recognize the percentage of each pharmacological class for the dispensed antibiotics and identify oral and parenteral antibiotic percentages dispensed and the portions manufactured nationally and imported. METHODS: Cross-sectional study was conducted in Al-Najaf to calculate the total cost and quantities of antibiotics consumed during 2012 using World Health Organization Guidelines for Defined Daily Dose (DDD). KEY FINDINGS: The results showed more than 21 million DDDs were dispensed in Al-Najaf in one year, and more than half (54.2%) were dispensed by governmental healthcare institutions. A thousand inhabitants in the province consumed 45.26 DDDs per day. Extended-spectrum (34.49%) and combined penicillins (26.08%) were the most frequently consumed while meropenem was the least frequently consumed (0.02%). Ninety-five per cent of the consumed antibiotics were oral dosage forms, and five per cent were parenteral dosage forms. The total cost of antibiotic consumed was more than nine million U.S dollars. CONCLUSIONS: The antibiotic consumption ratio in this province was comparable to neighbouring countries, but far higher compared to European countries. Penicillins, cephalosporins and quinolones were the most popular antibiotics. Around half of the antibiotics consumed were made by national pharmaceutical companies that mainly produce oral antibiotics. The public sector consumed a higher portion, but spent a lower amount compared to private sectors. This is the first time report of antibiotic consumption in Iraq. More studies evaluating antibiotic consumption can improve utilization.