Knowledge, attitude and practice among pharmacy students and faculty members towards artificial intelligence in pharmacy practice: A multinational cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Modern patient care depends on the continuous improvement of community and clinical pharmacy services, and artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to play a key role in this evolution. Although AI has been increasingly implemented in various fields of pharmacy, little is known about the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of pharmacy students and faculty members towards this technology. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of this study was to investigate the KAP of pharmacy students and faculty members regarding AI in six countries in the Middle East as well as to identify the predictive factors behind the understanding of the principles and practical applications of AI in healthcare processes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey. A total of 875 pharmacy students and faculty members in the faculty of pharmacy in Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Libya participated in the study. Data was collected through an online electronic questionnaire. The data collected included information about socio-demographics, understanding of AI basic principles, participants' attitudes toward AI, the participants' AI practices. RESULTS: Most participants (92.6%) reported having heard of AI technology in their practice, but only a small proportion (39.5%) had a good understanding of its concepts. The overall level of knowledge about AI among the study participants was moderate, with the mean knowledge score being 42.3 ± 21.8 out of 100 and students having a significantly higher knowledge score than faculty members. The attitude towards AI among pharmacy students and faculty members was positive, but there were still concerns about the impact of AI on job security and patient safety. Pharmacy students and faculty members had limited experience using AI tools in their practice. The majority of respondents (96.2%) believed that AI could improve patient care and pharmacy services. However, only a minority (18.6%) reported having received education or training on AI technology. High income, a strong educational level and background, and previous experience with technologies were predictors of KAP toward using AI in pharmacy practice. Finally, there was a positive correlation between knowledge about AI and attitudes towards AI as well as a significant positive correlation between AI knowledge and overall KAP scores. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that while there is a growing awareness of AI technology among pharmacy professionals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, there are still significant gaps in understanding and adopting AI in pharmacy Practice.

Assessment of Dietary Supplements Use among American University of Beirut Students: Prevalence, Knowledge, and Reasons for Supplementation.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and type of supplements used among university students, level of knowledge in this respect, reasons to supplement their diet, and the sources for information about dietary supplements. A sample of 100 students at the American University of Beirut were surveyed through a questionnaire composed of 22 questions and divided into four sections: socio-demographic, anthropometric, dietary supplement (DS) knowledge, DS intake and reasons. Descriptive statistics were conducted to determine the frequency of respondents for each variable and appropriate statistical tests were used for associations according to variable type and data. A total of 100 participants were included in the study of which 49 (49.0%) were males and 51 (51.0%) were females. Sixty-eight participants were dietary supplement users, of which 27 (39.7%) were males and 41 (60.3%) were females. Supplementation reasons differed: 53 consumed supplements to improve energy and vitality, 22 to enhance cognitive performance, 22 to promote hair, skin and health, and 13 to prevent or treat cold. A significant association was observed between dietary supplements use and female gender (OR = 5.66, 95% CI: 1.60-20.10). No significance was found between consuming dietary supplements and smoking status, BMI, living conditions, medical condition, age, exercise, major, dietary knowledge, and side effects. More than half of the participants are dietary supplements users with females being more likely to use them. The main reason for both genders to resort to dietary supplement use is to improve their energy and vitality.

The psychological health of patients diagnosed with cancer in Iraq during the COVID-19 pandemic: A single center study.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the psychological health status of patients diagnosed with cancer in Iraq during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aim was to measure the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among patients diagnosed with cancer. Secondary aims were to assess the association between depression, anxiety, and stress with sociodemographic characteristics, cancer-specific characteristics, patients' experience in healthcare visit, risk perception towards COVID-19, and health concern during the outbreak. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between September 1, 2020 and December 1, 2020 at an Oncology clinic in Baghdad. Included in the study were two hundred patients diagnosed with cancer. Data collected included: demographic variables (age, gender, residential location, marital status, education, employment status), clinical characteristics and cancer-specific parameters (duration since cancer diagnosis, cancer type, treatment duration, clinic visits frequency), experience during the pandemic (skipping or postponing treatment or periodical tests, suffering from new body pain, fear of acquiring the infection, fear of health deterioration), as well as psychological health status (depression, anxiety, stress). Pain, risk perception towards COVID-19, and health concern were measured using categorical Likert scale with responses being no, sometimes, and often. The psychological health status was measured by the "Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale" (DASS-21). Cut-off scores of the DASS-21 greater than 9, 7, and 14 represent a positive screen of depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively. RESULTS: The prevalence of patients who screened positive for depression was 22.0%, anxiety 22.0%, and stress 13.5%. The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress were significantly more in those who had university or higher education (34.3%, p-value <0.0001; 32.3%, p-value <0.0001; 19.2%, p-value = 0.02 respectively). Those were four times more likely to have depression and two times more likely to have anxiety than participants who had school education (OR = 4.40 CI [1.98-9.77], p-value <0.0001; OR = 2.55 CI [1.15-5.65], p-value = 0.02, respectively). The prevalence of anxiety was significantly the highest in the age group 16-39 years (40.9%) compared to 22.3% in the age group 40-64 years and 10.3% in the group ≥65 years (p-value = 0.02). Patients ≥65 years of age were less likely to develop anxiety compared to younger patients (OR = 0.44 CI [0.22-0.89], p-value = 0.02). As for the patients' experience in healthcare visit, 66 patients (33.0%) skipped or postponed their treatment or tests due to the outbreak. Around (8%) sometimes suffered from new body pain. Those who sometimes suffered from new body pain had significantly more depression than patients who did not suffer new pain or often had new pain (50.0% vs. 15.0% vs. 28.1% respectively, p-value = 0.002). Those were two times more likely to be depressed (OR = 2.18 CI [1.29-3.68], p-value = 0.003). Around (50%) of the patients were often afraid that their health would deteriorate during the outbreak. Those were significantly more depressed (31.7%, p-value = 0.002), anxious (30.7%, p-value <0.0001) and stressed (21.8%, p-value = 0.002) than those who did not have fear of losing their health and were two times more likely to have anxiety and stress. CONCLUSION: These findings, especially the association between developing new pain and depression, raised concerns regarding the psychological health in patients diagnosed with cancer during COVID-19 pandemic. It is crucial to implement psychological health screening for patients diagnosed with cancer during the pandemic to help prevent any psychological health problems. The DASS-21 could be used as a screening tool for distress in these patients.

Health care workers' compliance to the My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene: Comparison of 2 interventional methods.

This a prospective study comparing 2 interventions, incentive-based and audit-feedback, for measuring compliance to the World Health Organization's My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene among nursing staff in a Lebanese tertiary care center over 21 weeks. Compliance was not achieved by default. The incentive-driven intervention helped boost compliance, and the audit-feedback intervention helped achieve high sustainability. Analysis of health care workers' behavior toward hand hygiene based on the My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene concept is necessary to pinpoint difficulties in compliance.