scholarly journals Chinese ICU Physicians’ Knowledge of Antibiotic Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics (PK/PD): A Cross-Sectional Survey

Author(s):  
Wenchao Mao ◽  
Difan Lu ◽  
Jia Zhou ◽  
Junhai zhen ◽  
Jing Yan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Patients with sepsis have a high mortality rate, accumulated evidences suggest that an optimal antibiotic administration strategy based on pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics(PK/PD)can improve the prognosis of septic patients. Therefore, we assessed Chinese intensive care unit (ICU) physicians’ knowledge about PK/PD.Methods: In December 2019, we designed a questionnaire focused on Chinese ICU physicians’ knowledge about PK/PD and collected the questionnaires after 3 months. The questionnaire was distributed via e-mail and WeChat, and was distributed to ICU doctors in 31 administrative regions of China except Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The passing score was corrected by the Angoff method, and the ICU physicians’ knowledge about PK/PD was analysed accordingly.Results: We received a total of 1,309 questionnaires and retained 1,240 valid questionnaires. The passing score was 90.8, and the overall pass rate was 56.94%. The pass rate for tertiary and secondary hospitals was 59.07% and 37.19%, respectively. ICU physicians with less than 5 years of work experience and resident physician accounted for the highest pass rate, while those with between 5 to 10 years of work experience and attending accounted for the lowest pass rate. The majority of participants in the Chinese Critical Care Certified Course (5C) were from Jiangsu and Henan provinces, and they had the highest average scores (125.8 and 126.5, respectively). For Beijing and Shanghai, the average score was only 79.4 and 90.9, respectively.Conclusions: Chinese ICU physicians’ knowledge about PK/PD is unsatisfactory. Therefore, it is essential to strengthen ICU physicians’ knowledge about PK/PD.

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

While the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on frontline health care workers have been well described, the effects of the COVID-19 response on the U.S. public health workforce, which has been impacted by the prolonged public health response to the pandemic, has not been adequately characterized. A cross-sectional survey of public health professionals was conducted to assess mental and physical health, risk and protective factors for burnout, and short- and long-term career decisions during the pandemic response. The survey was completed online using the Qualtrics survey platform. Descriptive statistics and prevalence ratios (95% confidence intervals) were calculated. Among responses received from 23 August and 11 September 2020, 66.2% of public health workers reported burnout. Those with more work experience (1–4 vs. <1 years: prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.08−3.36; 5–9 vs. <1 years: PR = 1.89, CI = 1.07−3.34) or working in academic settings (vs. practice: PR = 1.31, CI = 1.08–1.58) were most likely to report burnout. As of September 2020, 23.6% fewer respondents planned to remain in the U.S. public health workforce for three or more years compared to their retrospectively reported January 2020 plans. A large-scale public health emergency response places unsustainable burdens on an already underfunded and understaffed public health workforce. Pandemic-related burnout threatens the U.S. public health workforce’s future when many challenges related to the ongoing COVID-19 response remain unaddressed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-179
Author(s):  
Simone Caruana

International evidence shows that the demand for STEM workers is expected to grow significantly. Despite this, students’ interests and motivation towards STEM learning especially STEM Vocational Education and Training (VET) is not increasing. This Skills Gap phenomenon has driven many countries to adopt policies and take initiatives to help close it. The purpose of this research is to study what factors influence the enrolment of students in Vocational STEM courses. The participants were students following a STEM programme at the Institute of Applied Sciences, MCAST. A quantitative research methodology was adopted for this study. An online cross-sectional survey questionnaire, containing Likert scale responses, was used to collect data. The SPSS Statistics 24 program was used to analyse the data and test it for reliability and validity. Factor analysis was carried out to reduce the initial independent variables into a fewer number of dimensions.The study found that parental advice, students’ interest in STEM subjects, their previous work experience and their positive attitude towards VET education are most influential in students’ enrolment in vocational STEM courses. It also highlights the need for school guidance officers to acquire more knowledge about VET STEM careers and accurate labour market information so as to assist students to make well-informed career path decisions. The findings of this study will provide valuable insight as to the causes of low enrolment within MCAST STEM programmes and help stakeholders determine the measures and strategies needed to encourage participation in STEM vocational studies.


Jurnal NERS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Ryan Michael Flores Oducado

Introduction: Empowerment has become an important concept in nursing that has gained acknowledgment in theories and practice of leadership and management. A positive organization espouses empowerment to attract and retain employees. While it is not new to nursing, there is little published research on empowerment among nurses in the Philippines. This study aimed to measure young staff nurses’ perception of leader empowering behaviors and psychological empowerment.Methods: This study used a cross-sectional survey design participated by 44 conveniently chosen staff nurses in a private teaching and training hospital in Iloilo City, Philippines. The participants were asked to answer 5-point Likert scale questions utilizing adopted instruments. Descriptive and non-parametric statistical stools were used with Mann-Whitney U test to determine differences and Spearman’s rank correlation to establish relationship between variables.Results: Overall, young staff nurses perceived their leaders’ behaviors to be highly empowering (M=3.89). Staff nurses also had a high level of psychological empowerment (M=4.07). Leader empowering behaviors was significantly related to staff nurses’ perception of psychological empowerment (p=.001). Staff nurses’ level of psychological empowerment were significantly different in terms of employment status (p=.020) and years of work experience (p=.014).Conclusion: This study highlights the positive influence of the empowering behaviors of leaders in enhancing staff nurses’ level of psychological empowerment. It is vital for nurse managers to continually demonstrate leadership behaviors that empower staff nurses at the unit level.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. M. M. T. B. Herath ◽  
K. W. S. M. Wijayawardhana ◽  
U. I. Wickramarachchi ◽  
Chaturaka Rodrigo

Abstract Background Euthanasia is a topic of intense ethical debate and it is illegal in most countries at present, including Sri Lanka. The aim of this descriptive cross-sectional study of medical students and practicing doctors was to explore the acceptance of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide (PAS), and factors influencing this opinion. Methods A customised online questionnaire which explored opinions on euthanasia was administered to first and final year medical undergraduates in University of Colombo and practicing doctors with more than 5 years of work experience at The National Hospital of Sri Lanka. Attitudes on euthanasia and PAS were also assessed with the attitudes towards euthanasia (ATE) Scale, which is a 10-item questionnaire. Results A total of 425 individuals responded (males: 178, 42%, age: median – 27 years), which included 143 (33.6%) first-year medical undergraduates, 141 (33.2%) final-year medical undergraduates and 141 (33.2%) practicing doctors. More participants (200, 47.1%) favoured legalizing euthanasia than those directly opposing it (110, 25.9%), but a significant proportion (27%) remained undecided. The mean scores of ATE questionnaire from the whole sample were generally unfavourable towards euthanasia/PAS. Accepting euthanasia as an option for oneself (p =  < 0.001) was the strongest predictor of favouring euthanasia/PAS or supporting its legalization. Conclusion In this cross-sectional survey, more respondents supported legalisation of euthanasia in Sri Lanka than those openly opposing it. Yet, a significant minority that responded as “undecided” for legalisation, were more likely to have unfavourable ATE.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-322
Author(s):  
Martins Olanrewaju Atunde ◽  
Johnson Abiodun Medupin ◽  
Saliu Ishaq Alabi ◽  
Abdulganiyu Adebayo Tijani ◽  
Olabode Awarun ◽  
...  

Background: Incidents of occupational stress among academicians globally is on the rise, despite its impending effects and prospects of coping strategies suggested in literature. Objective: This study examines occupational stress among university faculty staff and its outcomes on university goal achievements in Kwara State, Nigeria.  Methods: The study was a cross-sectional survey. A multi-stage sampling technique was used for the selection of 458 faculty staff. Data were collected with the use of a 57-item questionnaire. Results: Results reveal that the level of stress among faculty staff was high (3.25), while stress level differs based on gender (p<.05), age (p<.01), marital status (p<.01), work experience (p<.05) and ownership of workplace (p<.05). The prominent risk associated with occupational-related stress are organizational-related (cluster mean 3.26) and role-related (CM 3.26) factors. Findings further indicate that the social support (CM 3.00) and individual-focused (CM 2.91) coping strategies were moderately adopted for managing occupational-related stress among university faculty, while the organizational support coping strategy was utilized to a low extent (CM 2.47). Conclusion and Recommendation: The study findings implicate the attainment of university goals in terms of delivering quality teaching, research and promoting scholarship and community service. Thus, the mitigation of occupational-related stress requires individual, social and most especially workplace-level interventions. Implications: The research would enable university administrators in designing appropriate workplace policies and intervention strategies or programmes for minimizing high-stress level, risk factors and their attendant effects so that faculty staff can cope effectively with work demands for the enhanced achievements of university goals.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sitong Cui ◽  
Haibo Ding ◽  
Xiaojie Huang ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
Weiming Tang ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an effective HIV prevention measure. Clinicians play crucial role in PrEP implementation, and their knowledge, attitudes, career experience, and related structural factors may affect their willingness to prescribe PrEP. However, little is known about the attitudes and willingness of clinicians to prescribe PrEP without guidelines. OBJECTIVE We aimed to explore clinicians associated factors for their willingness to prescribe PrEP in China. METHODS Between May and June 2019, a nationwide online cross-sectional survey of clinicians was conducted on the platform of WeChat smartphone application. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with willingness to prescribe PrEP. RESULTS Overall, 777 HIV clinicians from 31 provinces in six administrative regions of China completed the survey. It was found that 72.5% of respondents had heard of PrEP, 32.9% thought that PrEP could effectively prevent HIV acquisition in key populations, and 47.2% thought that it was necessary to provide PrEP services to key populations. After adjusting for age, gender, ethnicity and education level, the following factors significantly increased the odds of PrEP prescription: having worked for more than 10 years (AOR = 2.82), having serviced more than 100 patients per month (AOR = 4.16), and often encountering key populations seeking the PrEP prescription service (AOR = 79.35). The barriers of PrEP willingness prescribing were concerning about poor adherence to PrEP (AOR = 0.66), lacking of clinical guidelines for PrEP (AOR = 0.47), and lacking of drug indications for PrEP (AOR = 0.49). CONCLUSIONS A high proportion of clinicians are willing to prescribe PrEP, but their understanding of PrEP is poor. Lack of PrEP clinical guidelines, lack of drug indications, and employees with limited work experience are the main barriers to the willingness of PrEP prescription. The development of PrEP clinical guidelines and drug indications and the availability of PrEP training are recommended to improve understanding and the willingness to prescribe PrEP.


Author(s):  
Dzifa Francis Ahadzi

Background: Work experience is a key factor that influences safety awareness among workers. This study investigated the influence of work experience on the level of awareness on adverse health effects of silica dust exposure among stone quarry workers in Ghana while controlling for theoretically relevant compositional and contextual factors, evaluated the magnitude and order of association between the predictors and the predicted variable. Method: A cross-sectional survey data of 524 randomly selected stone quarry workers were subjected to multivariate statistical analyses. Results: Stone quarry workers who had 6 to10 years and more than 10 years of work experience were 48% (OR = 1.475, P = 0.021) and 82% (OR = 1.816, P = 0.003) respectively more likely to be aware of the adverse health effects of silica dust exposure compared to their counterparts who had 1 to 5 years work experience. Conclusion: These findings provide relevant information for managers and policymakers to plan and maximize awareness on silica dust health hazards among silica exposed workers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-417
Author(s):  
Xue-Lian Fu ◽  
Jian-Guang Li ◽  
Yin-Li Su ◽  
Hong-Hong Wang ◽  
Yang Guo ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives To explore the level of active aging and correlates among rural elderly in Xiangtan County, China. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted from July to November 2019. A total of 945 rural elderly from 3 towns in Xiangtan County, China, were investigated by using the positive aging evaluation questionnaire (PAEQ), the activity of daily living scale (ADL), and the depression in old-age scale (DIA-S). Results The average score in the PAEQ among the rural elderly of Xiangtan County was 72.81 (range = 21–105). A moderate negative correlation was found between the score in the PAEQ and those in the ADL (r = −0.361) and DIA-S (r = −0.495). Symptoms of depression (β: −0.321, P = 0.001), number of chronic diseases (β: −0.281, P = 0.001), subjective economic status (β: 0.239, P = 0.001), ADL (β: −0.196, P = 0.001), education (β: 0.126, P = 0.001), number of children (β: 0.097, P = 0.001), and marital status (β: −0.060, P = 0.001) were significantly associated with levels of active aging in rural elderly, whereas gender and age were not independently related to active aging. Conclusions The level of active aging is at a moderately high level in the Chinese elderly in rural areas in Xiangtan County. The focus group of active aging in rural areas should be elderly people suffering from chronic diseases, physical decline, poor education and economic conditions, childlessness, and those without partners.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gamil Ghaleb Alrubaiee ◽  
Talal Ali Hussein Al-Qalah ◽  
Mohammed Sadeg A. Al-Aawar

Abstract Background: The growing incidence of coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to cause fear, anxiety, and panic amongst the community, especially for healthcare providers (HCPs), as the most vulnerable group at risk of contracting this new SARS-CoV-2 infection. To protect and enhance the ability of HCPs to perform their role in responding to COVID-19, healthcare authorities must help to alleviate the level of stress and anxiety amongst HCPs and the community. This will improve the knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19, especially for HCPs. In addition, authorities need to comply in treating this virus by implementing control measures and other precautions. This study explores the knowledge, attitude, anxiety, and preventive behaviours among Yemeni HCPs towards COVID-19. Methods: A descriptive, web-based-cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,231 Yemeni HCPs. The COVID-19 related questionnaire was designed using Google forms where the responses were coded and analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software package (IBM SPSS), version 22.0. Descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation coefficient test were also employed in this study. A p-value of < 0.05 with a 95% confidence interval was considered as statistically significant. The data collection phase commenced on 22nd April 2020, at 6 pm and finished on 26th April 2020 at 11 am. Results: The results indicated that from the 1,231 HCPs participating in this study, 61.6% were male, and 67% were aged between 20 and 30 years with a mean age of 29.29 ±6.75. Most (86%) held a bachelor’s degree or above having at least 10 years of work experience or less (88.1%). However, while 57.1% of the respondents obtained their information via social networks and news media, a further 60.0% had never attended lectures/discussions about COVID-19. The results further revealed that the majority of respondents had adequate knowledge, optimistic attitude, moderate level of anxiety, and high-performance in preventive behaviours, 69.8%, 85.10%, 51.0 and 87.70%, respectively, towards COVID-19. Conclusion: Although the Yemeni HCPs exhibited an adequate level of knowledge, optimism, attitude, moderate level of anxiety, and high-performance in preventive behaviours toward COVID-19, the results highlighted gaps, particularly in their knowledge and attitude towards COVID-19.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-49
Author(s):  
Martins Olanrewaju Atunde ◽  
Johnson Abiodun Medupin ◽  
Saliu Ishaq Alabi ◽  
Olabode Awarun ◽  
Janet Oluwakemi Oladejobio ◽  
...  

This study examined occupational-related stress among university faculty staff and its implications on goal attainment of universities in Kwara State, Nigeria.  The research design was a descriptive research of a cross-sectional survey. Multi-stage sampling technique was used for the selection of 458 faculty staff. Data were collected with the use of 57-item questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed with relevant statistics like percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Findings revealed that the level of stress among faculty staff was high (3.25), while stress level differs based on gender (p<.05), age (p<.01), marital status (p<.01), work experience (p<.05) and ownership of workplace (p<.05). The prominent risk associated with occupational-related stress were the organizational-related (cluster mean 3.26) and role-related (CM 3.26) factors. Finding further indicated that the social support (CM 3.00) and individual-focused (CM 2.91) coping strategies were moderately adopted for managing occupational-related stress among university faculty, while the organizational support coping strategy was utilized to a low extent (CM 2.47). The findings implicate the attainment of university goals because of the negative effect high-stress level will have on the physiological and behavioural state of faculty staff adding to destructive work and health anomalies.


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