scholarly journals Usage of smart devices amongst medical practitioners in Universitas Academic Hospital

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeyang Xu ◽  
Zoë Francis ◽  
Khayam Saleem ◽  
Siphamandla Sambujana ◽  
Keitumetse Molise ◽  
...  

Background: There has been a rapid rise in the use of smart devices amongst medical practitioners throughout the world. This study aimed to identify how smart devices were being used by medical practitioners at the Universitas Academic Hospital (UAH), Bloemfontein, and the associated factors thereof. We also identified the views of medical practitioners regarding the usage of smart devices at their workplace.Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted. Anonymous questionnaires were distributed to medical practitioners working at UAH during weekly departmental meetings or monthly morbidity and mortality meetings. The following largest departments were included: Surgery, Anaesthetics, Paediatrics, Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, and Obstetrics and Gynaecology.Results: The response rate was 82.7% of those attending the meetings. All the respondents owned a smart device and brought it to their workplace. The most common applications used on these smart devices were that for drug references (65.9%), medical textbooks (63.6%) and medical calculators (58.1%). Significantly larger percentages of doctors aged 21–39 years compared with those aged 40–65 years used drug reference applications and medical calculators. A quarter (24.8%) of respondents communicated with patients through a smart device, 21.7% used an online storage platform to backup patient data, whilst 56.6% used their devices to store and view patient information. More than one-third (36.7%) agreed that smart devices threatened patient confidentiality, but the majority (58.8%) did not agree that these devices hinder patient communication. The majority felt that these devices improved both personal performance (69.2%) and patient care (79.0%).Conclusion: Smart devices usage is common in this setting. Hence, integration of such usage in medical curricula, discussion on professionalism, ethics and confidentiality in this context, and guidance from institutions and professional bodies become necessary.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacey Frisch ◽  
Sarah Jones ◽  
James Willis ◽  
Richard Sinert

BACKGROUND COVID-19, an illness caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, affected many aspects of healthcare worldwide in 2020. From March to May of 2020, New York City (NYC) experienced a large surge of cases. OBJECTIVE The authors aimed to characterize the amount of illness experienced by residents and fellows in 2 NYC hospitals during this time period. METHODS This was a cross-sectional observational study. An IRB-exempt survey was distributed to emergency medicine housestaff in May 2020 and submissions were accepted through August 2020. RESULTS 64 residents and fellows responded to our survey (a 62% response rate). 42% of responders tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Most residents experienced symptoms that could be consistent with COVID-19 however few received PCR testing. Fevers and/or chills along with loss of smell and/or taste were the most specific symptoms for COVID-19, with p-values <0.05. All 13 housestaff who reported no symptoms during the study period tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. CONCLUSIONS Our study demonstrated that the rate of COVID-19 illness among emergency department housestaff is much higher than previously reported. Further studies are needed to characterize illness among medical staff in emergency departments across the nation. The high infection rate among emergency medicine trainees stresses the importance of supplying adequate PPE for healthcare professionals.


2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-55
Author(s):  
Zoriah Aziz ◽  
Chong Nyuk Jet ◽  
Sameerah Shaikh Abdul Rahman

Continuing professional development (CPD) is a lifelong learning approach to maintain and enhance professional competencies. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the pharmacists’ preferred CPD activities and barriers to CPD participation. A survey instrument was distributed to all government pharmacists (N=3876) in Malaysia. The response rate was 29.2 %. The majority of the pharmacists (92%) believed that engaging in CPD would improve their performances in their current role. Almost 90% of the respondents preferred to participate in CPD activities associated with continuing education such as workshops and conferences attendance. Barriers to CPD participation were current job constraints, lack of time, and accessibility in terms of travel and cost. It is important to address these issues before the implementation of mandatory CPD for pharmacists in Malaysia.


Author(s):  
Venkatesh V. Khadke ◽  
Shahbaz Yasin Khanda

Background: Government of India is trying to popularize generic medicines, still most Registered Medical Practitioners (RMPs) doubt its quality and efficacy. We conducted a cross sectional survey to study the barriers that hinders the practice of writing generic prescriptions. The aim was to study doctor’s knowledge, beliefs and actual practices regarding generic medicines. This study is a KAP survey model (Knowledge, attitude, practices) to study beliefs, barriers, awareness and actual practices regarding use of generic medicines amongst private practioners and RMPs of tertiary care Government hospital in Nanded city.Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted on a sample of 300 randomly selected RMPs practicing in Nanded, Maharashtra. A 26-item questionnaire was designed, validated, and data collected through personal visits. Fisher’s exact test was applied to see associations between variables using Graphpad Prism 7.Results: 234 RMPs responded to the questionnaire i.e. a response rate of 78% was achieved. 107 (45.7%) participants claimed to be actively prescribing generic medicines. 122 (52.1%) of the participants were unaware of any generic medical shop in their locality. 83 (35.5%) participants believed generics to be duplicate/ substandard. However, 16 (19.3%) of them still prescribed generics. One-third of them actually preferred its use for family.Conclusions: RMPs do not accept the use of generic medicines for concerns about its quality and efficacy. Also, there was unawareness regarding availability of generic medicines in the locality. RMPs need to be educated about manufacture, sale and quality aspects of generic medicines in India.


Author(s):  
Yaya Coulibaly ◽  
Fanta Sangho ◽  
Aboubacar Alassane Oumar

Objective: The drug policy of Mali is based on the concept of essential generic drugs. The adoption of generic drugs in a program is often accompanied by irrational use of these drugs precisely because of the availability of these drugs. Thus, this study was initiated to assess the quality of prescribing and dispensing drugs in Mali. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from 2004 to 2013, the survey was conducted in 20 primary health centers and 20 private pharmacies in three regions of the country. In each of these structures, 30 prescriptions filled at the time of the survey were collected. Results: The average number of drugs per prescription was 3.0 ± 1.3 and 2.4 ± 1.2, respectively, in the public and private sectors. Prescription of drugs under international name was 91.6% in the public sector and 37.2% in the private sector. The public sector prescribed 33.7% of injectable drug against 16.2% in the private sector (p <0.001). The average cost of a prescription was lower in the public sector (3415.3 FCFA or 5.21euros) than in the private sector (7111 FCFA or 10.85 euros).Conclusion: Generic drugs are commonly used in the public, but much less in the private sector. The treatment guidelines are already available, should be introduced interactively to medical practitioners, through visits and intensive supervision by more experienced managers in the hierarchy, it would be likely to improve the quality of prescribing practitioners.


2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Lynda Hariani ◽  
Agus Santoso Budi ◽  
Ephora Christina Wulandari

The rate of failed skin graft in Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital Surabaya was around 26% of the cases, and it became a concern because skin graft was the main procedure to close large burn wounds. Many problems might affect this event; one of them was electrolyte imbalance. Hypernatremia was found in major burn patients. This condition disrupted the wound healing process of skin graft. This cross-sectional study evaluated patients with burns admitted to the Burn Centre of Dr. Soetomo Hospital between January 2014 and December 2018. 143 subjects participated in this study. Hypernatremia was found in 16% of all subjects (23 subjects), 19% with hypernatremia (28 subjects), and the majority of it, 65% with normonatremia (92 subjects). This study found that the risk of failed skin graft was higher on hypernatremia than normonatremia subjects. This risk was higher if the skin graft procedure took more than 10%.


Author(s):  
Alex Chan ◽  
Andrew Cao ◽  
Leanne Kim ◽  
Shannon Gui ◽  
Manan Ahuja ◽  
...  

Purpose: Though prior literature has shown that virtual conferences improve accessibility and provide a comparable educational experience, further research is required to characterize their educational value. Methods: In this repeated cross-sectional study, demographic and survey data were compared between attendance perspectives for the in-person student-led internal medicine conference held in 2019 and subsequent virtual conference held in 2020. Results: There were 146 attendees at the in-person conference and 200 attendees at the online conference, in which 32 (22% response rate) and 52 responses (26% response rate) were gathered, respectively. Comparison of Likert Scale data via Mann-Whitney U Test revealed that learning objectives were better met in-person for the overall conference (p < 0.01) and didactic sessions (p < .05), but not for workshops, in which there was no significant difference. Survey takers noted the virtual conference to be more accessible on multiple factors, but felt as though their potential for interaction with other participants was more limited. Conclusions: Results indicate that though the virtual conference appeared more accessible to attendees, overall learning objectives for the conference and didactic sessions were better met in-person. Interestingly however, there was no observed difference in perceived educational value for small group workshops.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samman Chughtai

Self-medication is a common incidence in the world today. This study aims to evaluate self-medication among university students of Multan, Pakistan. This randomized cross sectional study was carried out in Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan during December 2015- January 216. A sample size of 200 students was randomly selected. Response rate was 90% (n=182).The prevalence of self-medication among the students was determined to be 83%. There was difference in perception of pharmacy students and students of other professions. Most common condition in which students did self-medication was headache (49.66%; n=75). Students also showed tendency of self-medication in case of herbal and essential oil products (46.35%). Awareness concerning insecurity and benefits of self-medication must be spread among students to avoid the complications of self-medication. 


Author(s):  
Mohamad Alameddine ◽  
Hussein Soueidan ◽  
Maha Makki ◽  
Hani Tamim ◽  
Eveline Hitti

BACKGROUND The use of smart devices (SD) by healthcare providers in care settings is a common practice nowadays. Such use is not restricted to applications related to the care of patients but often extends to personal calls and applications with frequent prompts and interruptions. This enhances the risk of distractions caused by SD in the hospital settings and raises concerns on service quality and patient safety. Such concerns are exacerbated in complex care settings like the Emergency Department (ED). OBJECTIVE This study measured the frequency and patterns of SD use among healthcare providers in the ED of a large academic health center in Lebanon. The perceived consequences of care providers on using SDs on the provider-provider communication and the care quality of patients in ED were further assessed. The study further examined the factors associated with the use of smart devices and measured the approval for regulating such use. METHODS The study was carried at the ED of an academic health center in Lebanon. The ED received the highest volume of patient visits in the country. Data was collected using a cross-sectional electronic survey sent to all ED healthcare providers (n=236). The target population included core ED faculty members, attending physicians, residents, medical students, and the nursing care providers. RESULTS Half of the target population responded to the questionnaire. A total of 85.6% of the respondents use one or more medical applications on their smart devices. The respondents believed that using the SD in the ED improved the coordination among the care team (81.6%) and that it was beneficial to patient care (78.9%). In addition, 41.1% of the respondents acknowledged they were distracted when using their SD for non-work purposes. Furthermore, 54.8% of the respondents acknowledged having witnessed their colleagues committed a near miss or an error due to the smart device-caused distractions. Regression analysis revealed that age and missing information due to using the SD are major predictors of committing an error at the ED (p<0.05). Interestingly, more than 40% of the respondents were significantly addicted to using SD and more than third of them felt the need to cut down on such use. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study make it imperative to safeguard the safety and wellbeing of patients, particularly in high intensity, high volume department such as the ED. Irrespective of the positive role the SD play in the healthcare process, the negative effects of its use mandate proper regulation. This is an ethical mandate taking into consideration the important consequences such use may have on care processes and outcomes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 184 (25) ◽  
pp. 770-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
René Van den Brom ◽  
Rianne Klerx ◽  
Piet Vellema ◽  
Karianne Lievaart-Peterson ◽  
Jan Willem Hesselink ◽  
...  

Pseudopregnancy is a frequently diagnosed reproductive disorder in (dairy) goats. This cross-sectional study evaluates the incidence, possible risk factors and therapies for pseudopregnancy on Dutch dairy goat farms. Two questionnaires, one for farmers and one for veterinarians, were designed and included questions about general farm demographics, breeding management, hormonal oestrous induction, treatment, measures for reduction and stress moments in dairy goats in the period June 1, 2016–May 31, 2017. In total, 43 farmers (21.5 per cent response rate) and 27 veterinarians (22.5 per cent response rate) completed the questionnaire. The annual incidence of pseudopregnancy varied between 1 and 54 per cent per farm, with a mean annual incidence of 17 per cent (95 per cent CI 0.14 to 0.21). In this study, we found a significant association between incidence of pseudopregnancy and a higher percentage of goats with an extended lactation (p<0.0001) and between incidence of pseudopregnancy and the number of ultrasound examinations per year (p<0.0001). The recommended therapy in literature consists of two administrations of prostaglandins. This was only correctly applied by 10 per cent of the farms. On 52 per cent of the farms, an overdose was used comparing to the recommended dose in literature.


BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. e031337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danba Jiachu ◽  
Ling Jin ◽  
Feng Jiang ◽  
Li Luo ◽  
Hong Zheng ◽  
...  

ObjectivesTo assess the prevalence of visual impairment (VI) and blindness (BL) due to cataract and cataract surgical outcomes in remote dispersed and high-altitude Tibetan areas of China.Design and settingA cross-sectional study was conducted among people aged 50 and above in Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Kandze (TAPK), China, in 2017. The Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness protocol was followed.ParticipantsOf 5000 eligible participants, 4764 were examined (response rate 95.3%).Primary and secondary outcome measuresCataract VI was defined as lens opacity at visual acuity (VA) levels of <3/60 (Blindness (BL)), ≥3/60 and <6/60 (severe visual impairment (SVI)), ≥6/60 and <6/18 (moderate visual impairment (MVI)), ≥6/18 and <6/12 (early visual impairment (EVI)).ResultsThe estimated prevalence of cataract BL was 0.61% (95% CI 0.42 to 0.87). With best corrected VA, the estimated prevalence of SVI from cataract was 0.86% (95% CI 0.63 to 1.17); MVI was 2.39% (95% CI 2.00 to 2.87) and EVI was 5.21% (95% CI 4.61 to 5.87). Women in TAPK had a significantly higher prevalence of cataract BL (0.82%, 95% CI 0.54 to 2.15) than men (0.34%, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.70). Women had lower cataract surgical coverage (CSC) by eyes (60.8%, 95% CI 55.5 to 65.8) compared with men (70.1%; 95% CI 63.7 to 75.7). The prevalence of cataract BL was higher among Tibetan (2.28%; 95% CI 1.98 to 2.62) than Han Chinese (1.01%%; 95% CI 0.54% to 1.87%). Overall CSC by person with BL (by better eye) was 82.0% (95% CI 75.2 to 87.6). Among cataract-operated participants, 71.2% had VA equal to or better than 6/18.ConclusionsThe study detected a low prevalence of VI and BL due to cataract with high CSC in the study area compared with many other places in China. Further actions should be taken to improve cataract surgical outcome.


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