Assessment of Saudi Public Perceptions and Opinions towards Artificial Intelligence in Health Care.

Background and Objectives: The healthcare system in Saudi Arabia is growing rapidly with the utilization of advanced technologies. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the Saudi public perceptions and opinions towards artificial intelligence (AI) in health care. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional web-based questionnaire study was conducted between January and April 2024. Data were analyzed from 830 participants. The perceptions of the public towards AI were assessed using 21-item questionnaires. Results: Among the respondents, 69.4% were males and 46% of them were aged above 41 years old. A total of 84.1% of the participants knew about AI, while 61.1% of them believed that AI is a tool that helps healthcare professionals, and 12.5% of them thought that AI may replace the physician, pharmacist, or nurse in the healthcare system. With regard to opinion on the widespread use of AI, 45.8% of the study population believed that healthcare professionals will be improved with the widespread use of artificial intelligence. The mean perception score of AI among males was 38.4 (SD = 6.1) and this was found to be higher than for females at 37.7 (SD = 5.3); however, no significant difference was observed (p = 0.072). Similarly, the mean perception score was higher among young adults aged between 20 and 25 years at 38.9 (SD = 6.1) compared to other age groups, but indicating no significant association between them (p = 0.198). Conclusions: The results showed that the Saudi public had a favorable opinion and perceptions of AI in health care. This suggests that health management recommendations should be made regarding how to successfully integrate and use medical AI while maintaining patient safety.

The use of complementary and alternative medicine for functional gastrointestinal disorders among the saudi population.

Background and objective: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a common practice among patients, who experience functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID). Among the Saudi population, less is known about CAM use for FGID. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of CAM utilization for FGID amongst the Saudi population and determine the types of CAM used for treatment. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during February 2023 through social media platforms using questionnaires adopted from the literature. There were three sections in the questionnaire including demographic information, questions to determine the prevalence of CAM use for FGID, the types of FGID, and the types of CAM utilization, and questions on the sources of information about CAM. Multivariable logistic regression was applied to find factors associated with CAM use. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 26. Results: A total of 828 people participated in this study. The overall prevalence of CAM use for FGID problems was 87.2 %. There were no significant differences in CAM use for FGID problems between men (87.5 %) and women (86.3 %) (P = 0.727). The most commonly used types of CAM for FGID were ginger (73.4 %), chamomile (66.6 %), mint (61.6 %), turmeric (59.0 %), anise (55.5 %), fennel (43.1 %), and Activia yogurt©ï¸ (42.7 %). The most common FGID disorders for utilizing CAM were IBS (29.9 %), followed by constipation (29.8 %), dyspepsia (22.7 %), and bloating (17.0 %). In the multivariable regression, age, gender and employment status did not have an impact on the odds of using CAM. The subjects who had high school, university, and postgraduate education had significant odds ratios of CAM use (OR = 2.73; 95 % CI: 1.22-6.13), (OR = 4.18; 95 % CI: 2.03-8.58), and (OR = 20.85; 95 % CI: 5.51-78.80), respectively, compared to subjects who did not complete high school. Participants who had private insurance had a significant odds ratio (OR = 0.27; 95 % CI: 0.14-0.55) compared to governmental insurance. Conclusion: The use of CAM among the Saudi population is alarmingly high; however, the lack of standardized medical recommendations and treatment options may be the cause. Although there were no significant gender differences, participants with higher educational levels and private insurance coverage were more likely to use CAM for FGID. Patients suffering from FGID and limited access to medical advice and treatment options are vulnerable to being exposed to dubious and incredible information sources. Expanding access to preventative medical services, funding governmental medical websites to provide credible information, educating healthcare professionals about FGID, and conducting more research in safe and effective treatments for FGID is recommended.

Community pharmacists' knowledge, prospective and practice towards health related illness at Hajj and Umrah: A cross sectional study.

Objectives: To assess the community pharmacists' (CPs) knowledge, attitude, and perception of health-related illness among pilgrims, and to investigate the common diseases and the pattern of medications dispensed by CPs during Hajj and Umrah seasons. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia over two months in 2022, through electronic platform using prevalidated questionnaires adopted from the literature. The questionnaires were divided into 4 sections assessing the CP's knowledge, attitude, and perception about health-related illness, common dispensed agents, and required vaccination during Hajj and Umrah. Results: A total of 544 CPs, mostly between the age of 31-40 (69.9%), participated in this research. About 87.9% of the CPs received a pilgrim after performing their rituals coming to the pharmacy complaining of infection or health problem. In this study, 99.8%(n = 544), 99.6%(n = 543), and 92.7% (n = 505) of the CPs identified influenza, food poisoning, and diarrhea/gastroenteritis as the most common issues during the Hajj & Umrah season respectively. As results, anti-diarrheal agents (96.3%), painkillers (87.3%), inhalers (89.4%), and sunscreens (88.3%) were the most requested pharmaceutical agents. Additionally, 96.7%(n = 527) of the CPs agreed that vaccination is safe to be given to Hajj and Umrah pilgrims particularly for those aged ≥ 65 years, and 89.4%(n = 487) of them reported awareness of vaccines that are required by Saudi Ministry of Health. Both Influenza and meningococcal meningitis vaccines were identified by 99.8% of the CPs, but polio vaccine was identified by 33.9%. Conclusion: Community pharmacists provided pharmaceutical care services for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. The majority of CPs had adequate knowledge about viral diseases during Hajj and Umrah and their requirement for vaccination.

Prevalence and Self-Medication for Acne among Students of Health-Related Science Colleges at King Saud University in Riyadh Region Saudi Arabia.

Background and Objectives: In Saudi Arabia, Acne vulgaris is a very predominant ailment among adolescents, especially female university students, and self-medication has become a trend to manage this condition. To determine the prevalence of Acne vulgaris among health care students and to access the scenario of its self-medication in light of students' knowledge, attitude, and practice towards it. Materials and Methods: This was an observational study conducted at King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from January 2022 to March 2022. The study was undertaken using a pre-structured questionnaire. Results: A total of 550 university students were recruited and the incidence of acne was observed to be 78.5% (432 out of 550) with a female predominance. A total of 56.0% (244 of 432) students used self-medications for acne without a prescription and the most used prescription drugs were topical and oral antibiotics (38.1%), followed by Isotretinoin (22.55), and topical adaplene (20.9%). Female students (n = 181, 63.5%) were significantly more likely to self-medicate compared to male students (n = 63, 42.9%, p ≤ 0.001). Almost 60% of medical students had proper knowledge of medication for acne. Conclusion: Acne vulgaris is a highly prevalent condition among university students of Saudi Arabia and use of self-medication among acne sufferers is high. Education programs should be made to raise awareness about acne and its treatment.

Aspirin Use among Saudi Adults: The Prevalence and Users' Characteristics.

Introduction: Despite the public routine use of aspirin as cardio-prophylaxis agent, its use is only recommended in particular situations, and not as usual primary prevention. Only few local studies investigate the use of aspirin in patients with certain diseases, but not within the public population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of aspirin use and identify the demographic and clinical characteristics among Saudi users. Methodology: A cross-sectional study targeting Saudi adults in Saudi Arabia was conducted over a period of four months in 2021 using online Google forms. The study collected data to assess the prevalence of use, use of aspirin according to prevention type, users' characteristics and comorbidities. Additionally, a self-assessment of knowledge, perception, reasons and attitude towards aspirin use among Saudi adults was conducted. A chi-square test was used to determine the association between the variables. A P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The prevalence of aspirin use was 47%. Regarding the self-assessed aspirin knowledge, the majority of the respondents (n = 481; 62.4 %) found to have good knowledge. Less than half of the participants (n = 341; 44%) use aspirin as primary prevention agent while only 23 participants (2.9%) use aspirin as secondary prevention agent. There was a significant difference between gender and user type (p = 0.001). With regards to comorbidities, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and obesity were common among the primary users of aspirin. Significant associations were found (p = 0.001) between participant's user type and the following characteristics such as smoking status, past medical history, presence of comorbidities. Conclusion: Aspirin use is commonly prevalent Saudi population with good level of knowledge of the therapy; however, its popular use as primary preventive agent for CVD may necessitate medical advice based on the level of cardiovascular risk.

Adherence to prophylactic dual antiplatelet therapy in patients with acute coronary syndrome - A study conducted at a Saudi university hospital.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate patients' self-reported adherence to dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) and determine the factors associated with premature discontinuation of DAPT. METHODS: The cross-sectional interview-based study was conducted among adult outpatients who visited the outpatient department of King Khalid University Hospital, Cardiac Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, over a period of 3 months from May to July of 2016. Medication adherence was assessed using the Self-efficacy for Appropriate Medication Use Scale (SEAMS), which is composed of 13 items with a 3-point Likert scale. RESULTS: A total of 192 patients participated in the study. The majority of the participants were male (82.1%), and the mean age was 55.66 ± 10.80 years. More than 84% (84.4%) of the patients reported that they were "confident" in taking several medications each day. The minimum and maximum SEAMS scores were 22 and 39, respectively, with the mean score being 30.8 ± 3.5. Almost all patients had moderate scores and adherence; only one patient got a score of 39. Among sociodemographic characteristics, only health insurance and income were significantly associated with the medication adherence score (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Study results concluded that patients had a moderate level of adherence towards DAPT in Saudi Arabia, however Patient education on DAPT is essential to improve adherence to medication treatment. More effective intentions and education methods should be developed to improve long-term DAPT adherence.

Evaluation of community pharmacists' knowledge about drug-drug interaction in Central Saudi Arabia.

INTRODUCTION: Although all implemented and ongoing initiatives, drug-drug interactions (DDIs) are still a global problem. Most published studies about DDIs in Saudi Arabia are carried out in hospital settings. In addition, assessing the knowledge of drug interactions in Saudi Arabia is limited. The aim of our study is to evaluate the knowledge of potential common drug-drug interactions among community pharmacists particularly in Saudi Arabia. METHODOLOGY: A crosses-sectional study utilizing a self- administered questionnaire was conducted among community pharmacy in Riyadh city Saudi Arabia. DDIs' knowledge was assessed by 26 drug pairs. Community pharmacists were asked to select the DDIs as "contraindication", "may be used together with monitoring", "no interaction" and "not sure". RESULTS: A total of 283 of community pharmacists completed the survey with response rate of 80.9%. Among the 26 drug pairs only 5 of them were identified correctly by most of the participants. To add more 3 out of the 5 pairs had a cutoff of less than 10% between the correct and wrong answer, meaning there still a majority that couldn't identify the correct answer. All the 26 pairs had a statistically significant difference between the correct and incorrect answer. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that knowledge of community pharmacists about DDIs was inadequate. Community pharmacist should have specific courses in drug interactions to cover the most possible interactions that can be seen in this setting.

Self-medication with antibiotics in Saudi Arabia.

INTRODUCTION: Despite of the global dilemma of antibiotics resistance, this issue is more worsen in developing countries or places where the antibiotics can be dispensed or purchased without prescription such as in Saudi Arabia. Most health awareness campaigns and published studies regarding the self-medication with antibiotics in Saudi Arabia are conducted within hospitals. The prevalence and reasons of self-medication with antibiotics were not well studied from community perspective in Saudi Arabia. This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics in Saudi Arabia. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study using online survey and snowball technique was conducted during the period from January 2017 to May 2017 targeting people who are living in Saudi Arabia. RESULTS: A total of 1264 respondent completed the questionnaire and included in the study. About 34% of respondents have used antibiotic without a prescription, and 81.3% of them knew that it might be harmful to health. The most antibiotic used for self-medication was Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (45.1%) followed by amoxicillin (39.9%). The most common illness and reasons for seeking antibiotic without prescription were tonsillitis (76.7%) and the previous experience of using a particular antibiotic (52.1%) respectively. The major source of self-medication with antibiotic was previous doctor's prescription (36.6%). CONCLUSION: The relative high prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics necessitates taking serious steps by health authorities to implement the law of forbidding the sale of antibiotics without prescription.

Prevalence of mental disorders among patients attending primary health care centers in the capital of Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of common mental disorders at primary health care (PHC) centers in Saudi Arabia using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study carried out at a single PHC center in Riyadh city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A self-medication questionnaire was utilized to collect the data. The prevalence of mental disorders has assessed by the Self-Reporting Questionnaire that consists of 20 items with binary answers (Yes/No). RESULTS: This study reports that the prevalence of mental disorders among patients attended primary health care center was 28.5%. Moreover, prevalence did not significant differ by sociodemographic (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of mental disorders was slight high. The rates of untreated mental disorders necessitate the healthcare makers in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to implement efficient strategies to halt the progression of untreated mental disorders.

Knowledge of community pharmacists about the risks of medication use during pregnancy in central region of Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Community pharmacists (CPs) are the most accessible health care provider to the public, and they have huge duties to improve medication use especially among the pregnant women in their community. The objective of this study was to evaluate knowledge of CPs about the medication safety during pregnancy. METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional survey was carried out over practicing community pharmacists in a capital of Saudi Arabia (SA). Pharmacists were asked about the safety of each medicine during pregnancy. It involved both prescription-only medications (POM) and over-the-counter (OTC) medications. Both descriptive and analytic statistics were utilized. For descriptive analysis, results were expressed as numbers, percentages and mean (±SD and 95% CI). RESULTS: The response rate was (71.1%). Most of the respondents (69.6%) believed that alprazolam is not safe while 22% of respondents believed that it is used on basis of risk-benefit assessment. Also, most of CPs (65.2%) said that amoxicillin is safe, but a very few of CPs (11.7%) knew that tetracycline should be used only if potential benefits may outweigh the risk. Among non-prescribed analgesics, majority of CPs (92.6%) knew that acetaminophen is safe. About dietary supplements, 48.4% of CPs reported that Vitamin A supplements are not safe. There was significant difference observed between age groups of CPs in scores of knowledge test (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Community Pharmacists are the most accessible health care providers who can help pregnant women with their medications use there are still gaps in knowledge where educational interventions are needed.

Formulation design and in vitro ex vivo evaluation of transdermal patches of Cinnarizine.

The aim of this study was to develop a Transdermal patch containing Cinnarizine using different ratios of hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymeric systems by solvent evaporation technique employing Polyethylene glycol (PEG 400) as plasticizer. The physicochemical compatibility of the drug and the polymers were studied by performing FT-IR spectroscopic analysis. Formulated patches were evaluated for physicochemical properties, skin irritation, in vitro drug release, ex-vivo permeation studies across rat abdominal skin and stability studies. The results of FT-IR studies revealed that there were no interactions between drug and polymers used. All the formulations exhibited uniformity in physicochemical properties. In vitro permeation studies of the formulations were performed by using Franz diffusion cells. Formulation F3 showed better permeation through rat skin (i.e., 8527.5±1.25µ/cm2 /hr) compared to rest of formulations and followed Fick's diffusion mechanism. On the basis of in-vitro drug release and ex-vivo skin permeation performance, Formulation F3 containing the polymeric blend 19:1 Hydroxypropylmethyl Cellulose (HPMC E 50cps: Eudragit RL 100) has shown optimum release in comparison to other formulations and indicated good physical stability. So it has been demonstrated that Cinnarizine can be designed as matrix type transdermal drug delivery system (TDDS) and further in-vivo evaluations were required.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Probiotics Among Saudi Health Care Students-A Cross-Sectional Study From Saudi University in Riyadh Saudi Arabia.

Probiotics offer a variety of health benefits for the digestive system, atopic eczema, and immune system. Future healthcare providers should know more about probiotics to advise their patients and the general public appropriately. The purpose of the study was to evaluate health science students' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) on the use of probiotics in various health conditions. A cross-sectional study was conducted among health college students using a self-administered online questionnaire. The study participants were selected using the convenience sample approach. statistical package for social science (SPSS) software was used to analyze the data. The Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney test were used to assess the statistical differences between sociodemographic data in knowledge, attitude, and practice variables. Of the 517 respondents, 56.3.0% of health science students had moderate knowledge of probiotics. More than one-third had positive attitudes, and 53.4.2% had positive practices. There was a significant difference in knowledge (P < .001), practice score (P < .001), and attitude score (P < .001) among different demographic data. Less than half of students said that their curricula did not include any information on probiotics. In addition, the majority of students agreed that probiotics were helpful for gastrointestinal health (87.3%), followed by immune health (73%), ulcerative colitis (61.9%), and irritable bowel (59.6%). The most information resources for probiotics were media (64%), and friends (60.7%). Health science students in Saudi had a fair level of knowledge of probiotics. Probiotics education in health science school curricula might increase students' understanding of the topic and improve probiotic prescribing in the future.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of community pharmacists toward the management of acne vulgaris in Saudi Arabia.

Background and objectives: In Saudi Arabia, Acne vulgaris is a very predominant ailment and Pharmacists currently have standardized protocols at their disposal for the treatment of acne. Pharmacists often prescribe medications for minor cases of acne. Therefore, this study aimed to explore community pharmacists (CPs)' knowledge, attitudes, and practice toward acne management in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: An online cross-sectional study was conducted among CPs working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from January and April 2021, using a self-administered, questionnaire, was divided into four sections that collected information from the CP's Knowledge, attitudes, and practices and the management of acne vulgaris. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 26 (SPSS). Result: A total of 313 CPs were enrolled in the study who successfully returned the questionnaire. The mean score of knowledge on etiology, pathophysiology, and therapy for AV was 5.3 ± (SD = 1.5). However, the majority of CPs had a moderate level of knowledge (80.8%), followed by mild to moderate (12.8%). This study showed that CPs had an insufficient level of knowledge about ace management, about 6% of CPs have a high level of knowledge. Inadequate knowledge was revealed in their management practice, only 0.3% of CPs treated patients with acne on their own without a referral. In addition, CPs showed a positive attitude toward acne management. Conclusion: There is a need to improve CPs' understanding of acne care and to contribute to participating in organized training sessions on the management of AV.

Clinical Knowledge, Attitude, and Perceptions of Community Pharmacists Towards Pharmacogenomics - A Cross-Sectional Study from Saudi Arabia.

Background and Aims: It is crucial to provide healthcare personnel with the necessary knowledge and understanding of genetic testing and pharmacogenomics. The purpose of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitudes, views, and considerations of Community pharmacists (CPs) about pharmacogenomics and genetics. Methods and Materials: A cross-sectional web-based study was conducted among practicing pharmacists Between January and February of 2022. Participants were recruited through a convenient sampling technique. A total of 23 item questionnaires were used to assess the Knowledge Attitudes, Views, and Considerations toward Pharmacogenomics among pharmacists. Results: The mean age of the CPs were 28.45±7.29(Std). Among the CPs, 38.4% (98 of 255) of them were correctly identified human chromosomes, and the majority of them 73.3% knew that adverse reactions can be caused by genetic changes in the human body. A total of 194 CPs agreed that certain drugs can be affected by genetic changes in the patient. In this study, one-third (33%) of the CPs were found to have good knowledge, while most (66.3%) of the CPs were found poor knowledge of pharmacogenomics and genetics. Furthermore, the knowledge score is significantly different concerning the qualification of the CPs (p=0.0001). Conclusion: The current findings, demonstrated a majority of the CPs found a lack of knowledge and understanding regarding pharmacogenomics and its perspectives, there is a need to increase awareness among CPs to reduce the knowledge gap of pharmacogenomics and genetics.

Exploring the Attitudes of Pharmacy Students in Saudi Arabia towards Plagiarism Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to explore the attitudes towards plagiarism among pharmacy students in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on pharmacy students at King Saud University in Riyadh to assess their attitudes towards plagiarism. The questionnaire consists of 27 items on a 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree) that assess three attitudes about plagiarism (positive and negative attitudes, as well as subjective norms). RESULTS: A total of 415 pharmacy students took part in this research. Among the whole sample, 55.7% were male, and 44.3% were female. The findings demonstrated a moderately positive attitude towards plagiarism (30 ± 6) and subjective standards (29 ± 7) as well as a moderate negative attitude (22 ± 5). About 26.5% of students did not believe that they worked in a plagiarism-free workplace, and 45.3% of students believed that self-plagiarism should not be punished in the same way as plagiarism. CONCLUSIONS: The overall attitudes of pharmacy students were positive. Training in medical writing and research ethics in the undergraduate and graduate pharmacy curricula is mandatory.

Knowledge, Attitude and Perception of Pharmacy Students towards Pharmacogenomics and Genetics: An Observational Study from King Saud University.

Pharmacists are considered among the most accessible healthcare workers in fundamental positions to implement new clinical initiatives, such as pharmacogenomics services. The scope of pharmacogenomics in improving health outcomes and the quality of health care is well-known. Implementation of such initiatives requires adequate knowledge, perception, and positive attitudes among pharmacists. A study was conducted on pharmacy students at King Saud University in Riyadh to analyze their attitudes, knowledge, and perceptions concerning pharmacogenomics to explore the feasibility of establishing full-time pharmacogenomics instruction and services. A cross-sectional study was carried out in one of the significant pharmacy schools of Saudi Arabia, using a simple questionnaire-based survey in pharmacy students pursuing Bpharm and PharmD courses to obtain preliminary information about pharmacogenomics among the surveyed population. The study's secondary objective was to determine the perceived belief about pharmacogenomics implementation in clinical practice. Out of the total of 552 participants, 41.8% correctly defined pharmacogenomics and 81.3% understood that genetic change could lead to adverse reactions. More than half of the participants agreed that the FDA recommends pharmacogenomics testing for certain drugs. The knowledge about a year of use of pharmacogenomics in clinical practice was found to be very low; only 15.2% could correctly answer. Only 60% of students agreed on pharmacogenomics testing for selecting the therapy with the most negligible adverse effects. Due to the limited knowledge about and understanding of pharmacogenomics, there is a lack of interest among pharmacy students in implementing pharmacogenomics testing in clinical practice. Our study highlights the need for improving pharmacy students' knowledge about pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics so that the implementation of pharmacogenomics testing in clinical practice will become easier. There is a need to introduce an up-to-date curriculum for pharmacy courses other pharmacogenomics-based health education programs in Saudi Arabia.

Community Pharmacists' Knowledge, Willingness, and Readiness to Prescribe Oral Contraceptives in Saudi Arabia.

Background: The role of community pharmacists (CPs) in various healthcare settings is well documented in the literature including providing safe and easy access to medications. Oral contraceptives (OCPs) are the most frequently used method of terminating unwanted pregnancies worldwide. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the Community pharmacist's knowledge, willingness, and readiness to prescribe OCPs in Saudi communities in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is across sectional, self-administered questionnaire-based study conducted between May and November 2021 in the central region of Saudi Arabia. The results were presented as frequencies and percentages. Chi-square tests were used to sort significant association between groups. Results: Out of 368 CPs who got the questionnaire, 347 completed (94.3%). Most of CPs were be-tween the ages of 25 and 35, with 76.9% working in chain pharmacies. Of the surveyed CPs, 45.5% had >24 months of experience in community pharmacies. 41.8% of them prescribed more than six prescriptions for OCPs/week. The patients' safety (77.2%), physician's resistance (54.5%), and CPs objection based on religious purposes (36.9%) and lack of time (29.7%) were the most commonly cited barriers among CPs. CPs who worked in chain pharmacies were significantly too busy (p = 0.038) to prescribe OCPs. Also, community pharmacists with experience of more than two years significantly agreed not to prescribe OCPs due to religious convictions (p = 0.009). Conclusion: The current study revealed that most of the CPs were knowledgeable about OCPs. Additionally, most of them were likely to prescribe oral contraceptives. We further suggest overcoming the barriers associated with contraceptives among CPs and providing sufficient training to improve the oral contraceptive prescriptions in CPs is needed.

Assessing Outpatients' Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Toward Managing Diabetes in Saudi Arabia.

INTRODUCTION: When it comes to non-communicable diseases like diabetes, inadequate knowledge, attitude, and practice are often linked to poor health outcomes. This study aims to assess the patients' knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of diabetes in the outpatient department of a university teaching hospital in Saudi Arabia. METHODOLOGY: In this cross-sectional study, diabetes type 2 patients attending outpatient departments at a university teaching hospital, Riyadh, were assessed regarding their knowledge, attitude, and practice toward diabetes using a validated KAP scale. Descriptive and inferential analysis was done to determine the factors associated with KAP score using SPSS version 26.0 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, U.S.). RESULTS: Males made up 69.7% of the sample (n = 165), while 56.9% were between the ages of 41 and 75. The level of knowledge and practice had "good" in 37.6%, and 47.9%, respectively, but level of attitude had "positive" in 30.9% of patients. The association between knowledge tier and gender (p0.014) and insurance status (p0.008), respectively, was shown to be significant. However, the attitude tier was only significantly associated with gender (P = .003). The practice tier also showed a significant age association (P = .049). As regards, the mean scores for diabetes-related knowledge were higher only among insured participants (P = .03) than for other participants' sociodemographic factors. Meanwhile, the mean attitude scores were also higher among males (P = .006) than for other sociodemographic characteristics. A comparison of the participants' sociodemographic characteristics found no statistically significant variations in practice scores. CONCLUSION: Unfortunately, this study found that outpatient diabetes patients had insufficient knowledge, practice, and a negative attitude toward diabetes type 2. This imposes a great burden on healthcare workers and hence the healthcare system to improve patient scores via diabetes education programs or pharmacist-led patient counseling initiatives.

Perception of pharmacy students toward numeracy: An observational study from King Saud University, Riyadh Saudi Arabia.

Background and objective: Numeracy is the branch of mathematics involved in understanding basic calculations, quantitation, estimation, reasoning, and execution of multistep operations. It is very imperative that pharmacists understand and apply numeracy skills in their routine work in the interest of their profession and patient care. This observational study was designed to assess the pharmacy student's perceptions of numeracy. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted by the Department of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, between December 2021 and February 2022. All the enrolled subjects pursued a 5-year Pharma degree course at the university using a 9-item instrument, which accessed the perception of students toward numeracy. The data were analyzed using the statistical software statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 26.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Chi-square and Fisher's exact test were used to derive an association between various parameters of the study subjects. A P-value of < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: A total of 550 pharmacy students were approached in this study, out of which 21 (3.8%) students were excluded due to incompleteness of the responses; thereupon, 529 students were included in the study. We learned that almost 90.0% of students had excellent and/or good mathematical ability, but at the same time, they were frequent users of calculators. Most of the students endorsed the importance of numeracy and showed their interest in attaining more knowledge of numeracy. Similarly rating the perceptions of mathematical ability is significantly associated with the frequency of use of a calculator for calculations (p = 0.0001). Conclusion: Pharmacy students showed interest in numeracy and correspondingly showed excellent perceptions toward mathematical ability. Although the role of numeracy has been well accepted, inciting changes in teaching-learning practices through mathematically focused teaching approaches throughout the pharmacy program will increase its applicability in healthcare.

Knowledge and Practice of Childbearing Women in Saudi Arabia towards Folic Acid Supplement-Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Neural tube defects are congenital anomalies which canlead to infant death and serious disability. They are initiated during embryogenesis, between the 23rd and 27th day of fetal life, and can be prevented by the administration of folic acid. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the knowledge and practice of Saudi women at childbearing age regarding NTDs and FA supplementation. METHODOLOGY: This is a cross-sectional study on Saudi women of reproductive age who were asked to complete an online survey to examine their knowledge and practice regarding folic acid supplementation and neural tube defects. Descriptive and simple linear regression analyses were conducted using SPSS v.26 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). RESULTS: A total of 613 women have completed the questionnaire, from which the majority (46.7%) were aged between 36 and 40 years. About 94% of women heard about folic acid and 80% indicated that its deficiency has some relation to neural tube defects. Approximately 37%, 25.3%, and 23.2% of women reported the proper time for folic acid intake to be during first trimester of pregnancy, before pregnancy, or throughout pregnancy, respectively. Linear regression analysis revealed that increase age and education were significantly correlated with a decrease in folic acid administration (p = 0.008) and (p = 0.001), respectively. However, there was no association between time of folic acid administration and income or number of parities. CONCLUSION: Despite the acceptable level of awareness about the relation of folic acid and neural tube defects, our results revealed that more education is required towards the proper time of supplementation among Saudi childbearing women.