scholarly journals Household Drug Stockpiling and Panic Buying of Drugs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Study From Jordan

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sura Al Zoubi ◽  
Lobna Gharaibeh ◽  
Hatim M. Jaber ◽  
Zaha Al-Zoubi

The coronavirus disease that emerged in 2019 (COVID-19) has affected health, societies and economies. Policies that have been imposed by different countries to slow the spread of the disease, including national lockdowns, curfews, border closures and enforcement of social distancing measures have disturbed the drug supply chain and resulted in drug shortages. Uncertainty concerning the pandemic has also led to the panic buying of drugs and the stockpiling of drugs in households, which has amplified the problem. In this cross-sectional study, a self-developed questionnaire was distributed online in order to a) assess the practice of household drug stockpiling prior to the national lockdown in Jordan, b) investigate the factors affecting it and c) measure peoples’ knowledge about the consequences of this behaviour. Results from this study show that drug purchasing was reported by 44.3% of the participants and was most common among participants from non-medical backgrounds (336, 75.7%) or those who have chronic diseases (261, 58.8%) and taking chronic supplements (282, 63.5%) regardless of their age, gender, living area or the possession of health insurance. Analgesics and antipyretics were the most frequently purchased drugs (225, 70.5%) and anticipation of their need was the most common reason for purchasing drugs (231, 52.0%). Buyers were also less aware, when compared to non-buyers, that panic buying and drug stockpiling may lead to drug shortages (204, 45.9% vs 325, 58.1%) and that this behaviour can pose a health hazard, especially to children (221, 47.5% vs 342, 61.2%). Our study shows that panic buying of drugs and household drug stockpiling were common in Jordan during the COVID-19 pandemic and this was related to participants’ medical knowledge and educational backgrounds. Therefore, educating the general population regarding rational drug use is urgently needed. This is also a compelling case for the development of national guidelines for drug management that target the general population and healthcare personnel, especially pharmacists, to avoid drug shortages during crises.

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Habibolah Khazaie ◽  
Azita Chehri ◽  
Kheirollah Sadeghi ◽  
Fatemeh Heydarpour ◽  
Akram Soleimani ◽  
...  

<p><strong>INTRODUCTION:</strong> Sleep hygiene was found as an important predictor for sleep quality. People’s sleep hygiene can have a major role in their daily function. The purpose of the study was to determine sleep hygiene patterns and sleep hygiene behaviors and factors affecting them in the general population of Kermanshah, Iran.</p><p><strong>MATERIAL &amp; METHODS:</strong> In this cross-sectional study, 1829 men and 1262 women were selected randomly from 50 clusters of different parts of the city. The inclusion criteria were age between 12 and 65 years and living in Kermanshah. The exclusion criteria were psychiatric disorder and known general medical conditions that affecting sleep. The data collection instruments were demographic questionnaire and Sleep Hygiene Questionnaire, consisted of 13 items about biological rhythm and bed room environment and behaviors that affecting sleep. Data were analyzed by using SPSS version 16 software.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>RESULTS:</strong> The highest percentage was obtained for irregular woke and went up from day to day or at weekend and holidays (74.8%). Only 213 (6.9%) participants were classified as having good sleep hygiene (score 12-14). The mean age of very poor, poor, moderate, and good sleepers was 34.8 ± 14.4, 33.7 ± 17.4, 36.5 ± 13.8, and 35 ± 13.7years, respectively. There were significant differences between the age of poor and moderate sleepers and also sleep hygiene patterns with respect to sex, education level and job.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>Poor sleep hygiene were more frequent in Iranian peoples and the major problem in sleep hygiene in our study was inappropriate sleep schedule.</p>


Author(s):  
Sudarshan Ramaswamy ◽  
Sumedha M. Joshi ◽  
Deepa H. Velankar ◽  
Jayesh D. Gosavi

Background: Doctors are supposed to lead healthier lifestyles and are usually assumed to have lower morbidity and mortality rates than general population due to their medical knowledge. However, recently a study conducted by the research cell of Indian Medical Association (IMA) concluded that doctors die younger and mostly due to cardiovascular diseases.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 100 doctors in a medical college for duration of 3 months. Questionnaires were distributed, they were personally interviewed and required clinical examination was done. Data obtained was tabulated in MS Excel and analyzed using SPSS software. Risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, stroke and obesity was estimated and its association with various determinants was seen.Results: Odds of having central obesity increases 10 times with BMI ≥25 kg/m2 as compared to <25 kg/m2. With risk ratio of 1.96, doctors are twice at risk of having BMI ≥25 as compared to general population. Number of people with higher risk of CVD increased after 45 years of age. People with at least one NCD outnumbered the people without any NCD, in the age group of 45-54 years and above. Insufficient physical activity is prevalent among 37% in this age group.Conclusions: This study gives an idea on impact of medical profession on lifestyle, outlook and attitude towards personal health among professional doctors. Initiatives must be taken to identify the causes of professional stress among doctors and measures must be taken to prevent them.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moslem Soofi ◽  
atefeh moradi ◽  
Parisa Riyahi ◽  
Sholeh Rezaei ◽  
Ebrahim Shakiba ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Tuberculosis is one of Iran's most significant infectious diseases, which with the advent of new and chronic diseases, is still known as the most threatening disease of human community. The goal of this research was to assess the result of TB treatment in western Iran (province of Kermanshah) and its associated factors during 2005 to 2017.Method In this cross-sectional study, all patients who had tuberculosis from 2005 to the end of 2017 were evaluated. Treatment outcomes were categorized into four domains of “treatment completion," “death," “treatment failure," and “recoveries" based on national guidelines, and factors affecting outcome were identified using univariate and multivariate logistic regression.Results Tuberculosis incidence was 15.21 in males and 14.32 in females per 100,000 individuals. The therapy result was almost uniform during the years investigated. 32.2% had extra pulmonary TB; 58.7% completed treatment; 9.9% died, and 4.1% had treatment failure. After controlling for key factors, the odds of completion of therapy in females were 1.1 (1.0-1.3) times greater than in males, and therapy failure and mortality caused by tuberculosis were also smaller in females than in males 0.6(0.4-0.8) and 0.5(0.3-0.7) respectively). HIV was the greatest variable in the prevalence of tuberculosis with 9.5 (5.8–16.8) times greater chances of death in HIV-positive people than those without HIV.Conclusion Given the high prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis and public health concerns, early screening and infection diagnosis, education and protective measures are suggested to prevent tuberculosis patients.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moslem Soofi ◽  
atefeh moradi ◽  
Parisa Riyahi ◽  
Sholeh Rezaei ◽  
Ebrahim Shakiba ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Tuberculosis is one of Iran's most significant infectious diseases, which with the advent of new and chronic diseases, is still known as the most threatening disease of human community. The goal of this research was to assess the result of TB treatment in western Iran (province of Kermanshah) and its associated factors during 2005 to 2017. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all patients who had tuberculosis from 2005 to the end of 2017 were evaluated. Treatment outcomes were categorized into four domains of “treatment completion," “death," “treatment failure," and “recoveries" based on national guidelines, and factors affecting outcome were identified using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results: Tuberculosis incidence was 15.21 in males and 14.32 in females per 100,000 individuals. The therapy result was almost uniform during the years investigated. 32.2% had extra pulmonary TB; 58.7% completed treatment; 9.9% died, and 4.1% had treatment failure. After controlling for key factors, the odds of completion of therapy in females were 1.1 (1.0-1.3) times greater than in males, and therapy failure and mortality caused by tuberculosis were also smaller in females than in males 0.6(0.4-0.8) and 0.5(0.3-0.7) respectively). HIV was the greatest variable in the prevalence of tuberculosis with 9.5 (5.8–16.8) times greater chances of death in HIV-positive people than those without HIV. Conclusion: Given the high prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis and public health concerns, early screening and infection diagnosis, education and protective measures are suggested to prevent tuberculosis patients. Keywords: Epidemiology, Tuberculosis, Tuberculosis treatment results, Iran.


PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11408
Author(s):  
Ara Cho ◽  
Jeonggyu Lee ◽  
YunJin Kim ◽  
Byung Mann Cho ◽  
Sang Yeoup Lee ◽  
...  

Background Medical students need to receive training in providing smoking cessation counseling to provide effective smoking cessation interventions to smokers when they become doctors. This study examined the smoking cessation education curricula and factors affecting counseling self-efficacy (CSE) in smoking cessation treatment among medical students. Methods In a multicenter cross-sectional study, we obtained demographic information, personal history of tobacco use and intention to quit smoking, exposure to secondhand smoke in the school premises during the past week, the experience of learning about tobacco in each medical school, tobacco-related medical knowledge, and self-efficacy in smoking cessation counseling on medical students of four Korean medical schools. Results Among 1,416 medical students eligible, 313 (22.1%) students completed a self-administered questionnaire. Only 20.3% of the students reported positive CSE on smoking cessation. The factors affecting positive CSE were scores of ≥ 60 on tobacco-related medical knowledge, smoking experience, and blended learning (p = 0.014, 0.005, and 0.015, respectively). Conclusion This study shows that high scores in tobacco-related medical knowledge and blended learning are correlated with positive CSE for smoking cessation counseling.


Author(s):  
Bernard Hope Taderera

The study of healthcare personnel migration in Ireland reports that most medical graduates plan to leave the country’s health system. It may be possible to address this challenge by understanding and addressing the reasons why young doctors plan to leave. Future studies should contribute to the retention of early career doctors in highincome countries such as Ireland. This will help reduce the migration of doctors from low- and middle-income countries in order to address the global health workforce crisis and its impact on the attainment of universal health coverage in all health systems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 320-330
Author(s):  
Utako Sawada ◽  
Akihito Shimazu ◽  
Norito Kawakami ◽  
Yuki Miyamoto ◽  
Lisa Speigel ◽  
...  

Background: Good social climate and high work engagement are important factors affecting outcomes in healthcare settings. This study observed the effects of a program called Civility, Respect, and Engagement in the Workplace (CREW) on social climate and staff work engagement in a psychiatric ward of a Japanese hospital. Methods: The program comprised 18 sessions installed over six months, with each session lasting 30-min. Participation in the program was recommended to all staff members at the ward, including nurses, medical doctors, and others, but it was not mandatory. A serial cross-sectional study collected data at four time-points. Nurses (n = 17 to 22), medical doctors (n = 9 to 13), and others (n = 6 to 10) participated in each survey. The analysis of variance was used to evaluate the changes in the following dependent variables, the Essen climate evaluation schema (EssenCES), the CREW civility scale, and the Utrecht work engagement scale (UWES) over time. Result: We found no significant effects. The effect size (Cohen’s d) for EssenCES was 0.35 from baseline to post-installation for all staff members. Effect sizes for EssenCES for medical doctors and UWES for nurses were 0.79 and 0.56, respectively, from baseline to post-program. Conclusions: Differences in social climate and work engagement among Japanese healthcare workers between the baseline and post-installation of the CREW program were non-significant.


Thorax ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 613-616
Author(s):  
P Lange ◽  
J Parner ◽  
E Prescott ◽  
C Suppli Ulrik ◽  
J Vestbo

BACKGROUNDRecent evidence suggests a role for hormonal factors in the aetiology of asthma.METHODSData from a large study of women selected from the general population were used to relate treatment with oral hormonal contraceptives (OCP) and postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to the following asthma indicators: self-reported asthma, wheezing, cough at exertion, and use of medication for asthma. The study sample comprised 1536 premenopausal and 3016 postmenopausal women who participated in the third round of the Copenhagen City Heart Study in 1991–4. A total of 377 women were taking OCP (24.5% of premenopausal women) and 458 were on HRT (15.2% of postmenopausal women).RESULTSIn premenopausal women 4.8% reported having asthma. The prevalence of self-reported asthma, wheeze, use of asthma medication, and cough at exertion was not significantly related to use of OCP. In postmenopausal women the prevalence of self-reported asthma was 6.2%. A weak but consistent association was observed between HRT and self-reported asthma (OR 1.42 (95% CI 0.95 to 2.12)), wheeze (OR 1.29 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.64)), cough at exertion (OR 1.34 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.77)), and use of asthma medication (OR 1.45 (95% CI 0.97 to 2.18)).CONCLUSIONSIn this study of the general population no relationship was found between the use of OCP and asthma. Although an association was observed between HRT and asthma and asthma-like symptoms, this was relatively weak and it is concluded that there is no necessity to change present prescription practice.


Author(s):  
Yasir Almuzaini ◽  
Nour Abdulmalek ◽  
Sujoud Ghallab ◽  
Abdulaziz Mushi ◽  
Yara Yassin ◽  
...  

Heat-related illnesses (HRIs), such as heatstroke (HS) and heat exhaustion (HE), are common complications during Hajj pilgrims. The Saudi Ministry of Health (MoH) developed guidelines on the management of HRIs to ensure the safety of all pilgrims. This study aimed to assess healthcare workers’ (HCWs) adherence to the updated national guidelines regarding pre-hospital and in-hospital management of HRIs. This was a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire based on the updated HRI management interim guidelines for the Hajj season. Overall, compliance with HE guidelines scored 5.5 out of 10 for basic management and 4.7 out of 10 for advanced management. Medical staff showed an average to above average adherence to pre-hospital HS management, including pre-hospital considerations (7.2), recognition of HS (8.1), case assessment (7.7), stabilizing airway, breathing, and circulation (8.7), and cooling (5). The overall compliance to in-hospital guidelines for HS management were all above average, except for special conditions (4.3). In conclusion, this survey may facilitate the evaluation of the adherence to Saudi HRIs guidelines by comparing annual levels of compliance. These survey results may serve as a tool for the Saudi MoH to develop further recommendations and actions.


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