scholarly journals Involvement of Community Pharmacists in Public Health Services in Asir Region, Saudi Arabia: A Cross‐sectional Study

Author(s):  
Mona Almanasef ◽  
Dalia Almaghaslah ◽  
Geetha Kandasamy ◽  
Rajalakshimi Vasudevan ◽  
Sadia Batool
Author(s):  
Mona Almanasef ◽  
Dalia Almaghaslah ◽  
Geetha Kandasamy ◽  
Rajalakshimi Vasudevan ◽  
Sadia Batool

Background: Community pharmacists are one of the most accessible healthcare practitioners worldwide used by a large proportion of the population. Expanding the roles of community pharmacists could contribute to reducing pressure on general health practice and other areas of the health services. This research aimed to evaluate the contribution of community pharmacists in the provision of public health services and to investigate the perceived barriers for the provision of these services in Saudi Arabia. Materials & Methods: This study followed a cross-sectional design using an online anonymous self-administered questionnaire. The study took place in Asir region, Saudi Arabia, between September 2019 and February 2020. A convenience sampling strategy was used to select and recruit the study participants. The questionnaire was adapted from previous research and involved three sections: demographics, involvement in public health services, and barriers for practising public health roles. Results: The total number of respondents was 193. The proportion of respondents who reported that they were “very involved” or “involved” in each service was 61.7% for weight management, 60.6% for sexual health, 57.5% for healthy eating, 53.4% for physical activity promotion, 51.3% for dental health, 46.1% for smoking cessation, 39.4% for screening for diabetes, 35.7% for screening for hypertension, 31.1% for alcohol dependence and drug misuse counselling, 30.6% for screening for dyslipidaemia, and 21.8% for vaccination and immunisation. Most of the barriers in the current research were rated as having low relevance to the provision of public health services. Conclusion: Findings in the current research suggest that community pharmacists in Asir region have intermediate to minimal engagement in practicing their public health roles. Further research needs to be undertaken to understand the barriers to the provision of public health services and what strategies would be beneficial for enhancing the public health role of community pharmacists in Saudi Arabia.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Wang ◽  
Jingmin Zhu ◽  
Yang Bai ◽  
Xueyao Wang ◽  
Yue Che ◽  
...  

Abstract Cross-sectional studies about association between awareness of basic public health services and vaccination rates among migrants were lacking. In this study, we aimed to explore the association between awareness of the BPHSs project and vaccination rates among the migrants in China. We included 10013 respondents aged 15 years old or above of eight provinces from 2017 Migrant Population Dynamic Monitoring Survey in China, a nationwide cross-sectional study. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to assess the association between awareness of basic public health services and vaccination rates. Among 10013 migrants, 76.48% were aware of the BPHSs project. Female, the middle-aged, married or having a relationship, the highly educated and the healthy population had higher awareness of this project than others. Multivariable logistic regressions showed that there were significant associations between the awareness of BPHSs project and vaccination rates of eight recommended vaccines (all p values <0.001), including HepA vaccine (OR: 1.54, 95%CI: 1.38-1.73), FIn vaccine (OR: 1.28, 95%CI: 1.13-1.44), JE vaccine (OR: 1.33, 95%CI: 1.14-1.54), TIG vaccine (OR: 1.28, 95%CI: 1.11-1.48), HepB vaccine (OR: 1.11, 95%CI: 1.01-1.22), DTaP vaccine (OR: 1.22, 95%CI: 1.05-1.43), MPSV vaccine (OR: 1.28, 95%CI: 1.08-1.51), HF vaccine (OR: 1.32, 95%CI: 1.03-1.70), except for JE vaccine. The results were robust in the sensitivity analysis. There was a strong relationship between the awareness rate of BPHSs project in the migrants and vaccination. Our findings indicated that the promotion of basic public health services had a beneficial effect on the national recommended vaccination coverage, especially for the migrants with relatively low vaccine coverage.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petros Galanis ◽  
Panayiota Sourtzi ◽  
Thalia Bellali ◽  
Mamas Theodorou ◽  
Ioanna Karamitri ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abeer Alharbi ◽  
Joharah Alzuwaed ◽  
Hind Qasem

Abstract Background The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia is expanding the country’s telemedicine services by using advanced technology in health services. In doing so, an e-health application (app), Seha, was introduced in 2018 that allows individuals to have face-to-face visual medical consultations with their doctors on their smartphones. Objective This study evaluated the effectiveness of the app in improving healthcare delivery by ensuring patient satisfaction with the care given, increasing access to care, and improving efficiency in the healthcare system. Methods A cross-sectional study design was used to assess the perceptions of users of the Seha app and non-users who continued with traditional health services. The data were collected using an online survey via Google Forms between June 2020 and September 2020. Independent t tests and chi-square (χ2) tests were conducted to answer the research questions. Results There was a significant difference between users and non-users in terms of ease of access to health services (t =  − 9.38, p < 0.05), with app users having a higher mean score (4.19 ± 0.91) than non-users (3.41 ± 1.00); satisfaction with health services (t =  − 6.33, p < 0.05), with users having a higher mean score (3.96 ± 0.91) than non-users (3.45 ± 0.94); and efficiency (only one visit needed for treatment) (t =  − 3.20, p < 0.05), with users having a higher mean score (3.71 ± 0.93) than non-users (3.45 ± 0.93). There were significant associations between the use of the Seha app and age (χ2 = 8.79, p < 0.05), gender (χ2 = 22.19, p < 0.05), region (χ2 = 19.74, p < 0.05), and occupation (χ2 = 22.05, p < 0.05). There were significant relationships between the three items (on access, satisfaction, and efficiency) and experiencing technical issues (t = 4.47, t = 8.11, and t = 3.24, respectively, p < 0.05), with users who faced technical problems having significantly lower mean scores for all three items. Conclusion This study provided evidence that the Seha app improved the delivery of healthcare in Saudi Arabia. Users of the app had a better health experience in terms of their perceived ease of access to healthcare services; their satisfaction with healthcare services; and the efficiency of the system, measured by the number of required doctor visits. Other factors that appeared to influence the use of the app included age, gender, usual source of care, and technical difficulties.


Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 823
Author(s):  
Sultan Alghadeer ◽  
Mohammed N. Al-Arifi

The awareness among Saudi people regarding the good and safe practice of drug disposal is fairly low. Community pharmacists’ potential toward drugs disposal directions and practice are not emphasized enough. Therefore, a cross sectional study was conducted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to evaluate the practice, awareness and beliefs of community pharmacists about disposal of unused drugs. Out of 360 subjects who participated in the study, more than 70% returned the unused drugs to the pharmaceutical distributors. Around 80% of the participants confirmed the risk of environmental damage due to the inappropriate disposal of drugs, and 87.5% of them held themselves responsible for preventing such risk. Approximately 85% of surveyed pharmacists believed community pharmacies to be an appropriate location for the collection of unused drugs. There was no significant association between the community pharmacists’ age group and years of practice as community pharmacists with either the awareness of unused medication disposal on environmental hazards, or the beliefs about the appropriate location for collecting unused drugs (p > 0.05). The awareness and proactive accountable responsibility, along with community pharmacists’ belief of appointing pharmacies to collect unused drugs, strongly support the institution of drug take-back programs.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina W. Kintziger ◽  
Kahler W. Stone ◽  
Meredith Jagger ◽  
Jennifer A. Horney

Abstract Background Funding and staff formerly dedicated to routine public health tasks (e.g., responding to communicable and non-communicable diseases, investigating foodborne outbreaks, conducting routine surveillance) and services (e.g., environmental health, substance abuse, maternal-child health) may no longer be available in many public health departments due to the COVID-19 response. The objective of this study was to assess the extent to which staffing for essential public health services has been redirected to the COVID-19 response. Methods This is a cross-sectional study using a survey distributed through the Qualtrics platform. Individuals (N = 298) working in public health across governmental and academic public health departments in the U.S. during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic response were surveyed. Survey items measured multiple domains including professional experience (i.e., training, years of experience, content expertise, job functions), mental and physical health status (i.e., generalized anxiety, depression, burnout), and career plans (i.e., pre-pandemic vs. current career plans). Results The total number of content expertise areas and programmatic functions covered by individual public health workers increased between January and September of 2020, with 26% (73 of 282) of respondents reporting an increase in both. The total number of respondents working in infectious disease and preparedness remained constant, while declines were reported in program evaluation (-36%) and health education (-27%) and increases were reported in disease investigation (+ 35%). Conclusions The provision of many essential public health functions and tasks have been limited or eliminated while the U.S. public health workforce responds to the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings highlight opportunities for funding and professional development of public health systems, both during and after the COVID-19 response, to help ensure the continuity of essential public health services, staffing sustainability, and preparedness for future public health emergencies in the U.S. Trial registration: Not applicable.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mashael K Alshaikh ◽  
Juren P. Baldove ◽  
Salman Rawaf

Abstract Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD), a major worldwide public health issue, is of significant concern as several studies confirm the high prevalence of CVD risk in Saudi women. However, limited has focused on how these risks are affected by health beliefs and socioeconomic variables. The Health Belief Model was used to compare Saudi women’s perceived health beliefs with their calculated Framingham Risk Score (FRS) to determine their risk for a future CVD event and the influence of socio-economic variables on the prevalence of CVD risk.Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on women attending the primary care clinics in a university hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A non-random convenience sample was selected of adult women without pre-existing CVD. Health belief and sociodemographic data were collected, and FRS calculated.Results A total of 503 Saudi females participated, the majority of whom significantly underestimated their actual risk of CVD as measured by their individual FRS. 43.4% had a high CVD risk but a low perception of susceptibility. 63.5% understood the severity of CVD, while 75.2% had a low to moderate perception of the benefits of healthy behaviours. 86.7% did not know how to perform CVD risk-reducing exercises, and 65.9 % stated that they did not have access to exercise facilities. Pearson correlations suggest a weak linear relationship between the FRS and the subscales of each health belief. However, there was a significant relationship between the Framingham scores across income, marital status, education and occupational status categories (p<= 0.001) in Chi-Square tests. Significant differences were found when comparing perceived benefits of healthy behaviours with marital status; perceived severity and benefits with the level of education; perceived severity and benefits with occupation; and perceived severity and benefits with financial income. Conclusions This study is the first in Saudi Arabia to examine the correlation between health beliefs, calculated CVD risk, and socioeconomic variables among Saudi women. Education and income were vital elements affecting their CVD risk and health beliefs, and these have implications for public health policy-making.


2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 289-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Trindade Machado ◽  
Marcos Azeredo Furquim Werneck ◽  
Simone Dutra Lucas ◽  
Mauro Henrique Nogueira Guimarães Abreu

The study sought to identify possible factors associated with non-attendance at first dental appointments scheduled in 2011 of users living in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, who were referred from primary care to different dental specialties in secondary care within the public health services of the city. A cross-sectional study was conducted based on research in secondary data bases of the public health regulatory system. The dependent variable was "no shows" for scheduled appointments, and the independent variables were age, time on the waiting list, gender, health district, and the specialty to which the individual was referred. Among the 6,428 first dental visits scheduled for 2011 in the specialties selected for analysis, 32.9 % were not performed due to the absence of the user. Bivariate analysis revealed a statistically significant association between non-attendance of the user and the five independent variables. Young adults, male, and resident in given districts who were referred to the specialties of surgery and endodontics and who waited longer on the waiting list exhibited a higher frequency of no-shows.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liange Zhao ◽  
hongbin yuan ◽  
Xueyuan Wang

Abstract Objective This paper evaluates the effect of National Basic Public Health Services (NBPHS) on the health of internal migrants in China. Study design: The study design used in this research is a cross-sectional study. Methods Data were obtained from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) of 2017, including 150,384 internal migrants at the age of 15–59. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to estimate the effect of NBPHS. Results The findings indicate that NBPHS is successful in improving the health of internal migrants. Different matching algorithms showed the improvement ranging from 2.7 to 2.9 percentage points for the indicator of self-reported health, compared with the reduction of the probability of having disease ranging from 3.3 to 3.7 percentage points in the past year. However, gains are not shared equally. Heterogeneity analysis found significant improvement in the health of patients with hypertension, but the health improvement of diabetics was relatively small. There was also no significant effect on patients with both hypertension and diabetes. Similarly, less improvement was observed in those over 65 years old. Conclusions This research suggests that policymakers should not only pay attention to the equalization of project implementation but also focus on narrowing the benefits gap between different groups of internal migrants. This finding highlights the importance of encouraging more young doctors to provide health services in primary institutions and promoting the sinking of high-quality medical resources.


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