Objective: To assess certain quality control parameters for seven brands of albendazole tablets obtained from different retail pharmacies.
Methods: The physicochemical properties and active ...ingredientsofseven randomly selectedbrands of albendazole tablets were assessed weight uniformity, hardness, friability, disintegration and dissolution
Results: All seven albendazole brands met the British Pharmacopeia (BP) quality control standards of weight uniformity, friability and the active ingredient content. Five brands met the BP disintegration criterion,whereas only two brands complied with the BP quality control parameters of the dissolution specifications.
Conclusions: Out of the seven brands of albendazole (400 mg) tablets, only two fulfillthe BP quality control standards and show physicochemicalquivalence. This emphasizes the need for regular assessment of marketed drugs to assure equivalenceof these drugs to their innovators.
Hypertension is a common public health problem that impacts more than one-third of the world population. Awareness of physicians towards the guidelines of high blood pressure management is an ...essential step to reduce the consequences of high blood pressure.
This study was aimed to assess the awareness of physicians towards high blood pressure treatment according to the recent report of the Joint National Committee (JNC8) guideline.
A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 400 physicians during the period from February to April 2017. Physicians were recruited from public and private hospitals as well as clinics. A validated questionnaire that incorporated the changes seen in JNC 8, as well as the specific modality of hypertension management based on other guidelines, was administered to the participating physicians.
Three hundred and eighty-nine physicians completed the questionnaire; with all the interviewed physicians have ever heard about JNC 8. The practice of general practitioners (GPs) was significantly deviated from the recommended guideline of blood pressure management as compared to consultants, specialists, and residents. Additionally, certain variations were found among consultants, specialists, and residents with slight superiority of consultants towards most aspects.
The finding of this study highlights an inadequate knowledge of GPs in Yemen towards high blood pressure management guidelines. The findings of this study emphasize the necessity for continuous medical education programs that are specially designed to target GPs. Continued update of medical curricula in Yemeni universities is also needed.
Pharmacists in community or hospital setting play a key role in reporting Adverse Drug Reaction (ADRs) during practice. Under reporting is considered as a profession malpractice worldwide.
To ...determine the level of knowledge and perception about phramacovigilance and ADRs reporting among final year pharmacy students of Universities in Sana'a Yemen.
A cross-sectional study design was conducted among 385 final year pharmacy students. One public and four private universities were selected randomly using a validated self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire contained data about student demographic data, knowledge and perception about the ADRs. The data was analysed by SPSS program and Chi-square tests were used to assess the significance of association.
The male students were more knowledgeable than female (p=0.035), as well as private university students had better ideas on how to report ADRs than public university students (p=0.009). Private university students reported that pharmacovigilance topic is well covered in their curriculum compared to public university students (p≤0.001). A significant difference was seen amongst the students of public and private universities when asked about reporting ADRs in future, former found more confident (p≤0.001). Furthermore, the private university students also had more command on the concept of post-marketing surveillance than public university students (p≤0.001). The private university students in Yemen were more known to causality assessment of ADRs as compared to the students of public universities (p≤0.001). The results of perception revealed regarding perception toward ADRs and pharmacovigilance. Female students (p≤0.018) and private universities students (p≤0.001) had positive perception than male and public university students respectively.
The findings showed poor knowledge among students in Sana'a Universities and positive perception towards pharmacovigilance and ADRs reporting. A poor knowledge among the future pharmacists suggests need for educational interventions and improvement of strategies to ease the reporting mechanisms. Steps can be taken to improve pharmacovigilance tools and methods in Yemen as well as incorporating subjects of pharmacovigilance in the health faculty's curriculum in Yemen.
Objectives: To assess the awareness of healthcare providers in Sana’a city of the most frequently antibiotic-resistant bacterial isolates encountered in clinical settings, the factors associated with ...the emergence of such resistance and the strategies to counteract antibiotic resistance. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 416 healthcare providers; namely, 167 physicians, 61 pharmacists and 188 nurses, from four public and two private hospitals in Sana’a. Data about demographics, awareness of the most frequently isolated antibiotic-resistant bacteria in clinical settings, the factors possibly associated with such resistance and the best strategies to counteract antibiotic resistance were collected using a pre-designed questionnaire. Data were then analyzed using suitable statistical tests. Results: The majority of healthcare providers were aware of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as the two most frequently encountered bacterial species in clinical practice, with non-statistically significant differences in the awareness level among physicians, pharmacists and nurses. However, a statistically significant difference was found among healthcare providers regarding their awareness of the most possible factors contributing to antibiotic resistance. In this regard, pharmacists were significantly more aware of the contribution of the extensive use of newer generations of antibiotics (P = 0.030), inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics (P = 0.010) and use of antibiotics without prescription (P = 0.045) to the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance than physicians and nurses. On the other hand, physicians and nurses were significantly more aware of the role of reducing the length of hospital stay (P = 0.005), limiting the use of medical instrumentation (P = 0.036), use of narrow-spectrum antibiotics (P = 0.005), surveillance for antibiotic resistance (P = 0.004), development of infection control policies and procedures (P <0.001) and consultation with infectious disease specialists (P = 0.010) as key strategies to minimize the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria compared to pharmacists. Moreover, nurses showed significantly higher awareness of the use of narrow-spectrum antibiotics (P = 0.005) and surveillance of antibiotic resistance (P = 0.003) as key strategies to reduce the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance. Conclusions: There is a discrepancy in the awareness of Yemeni healthcare providers’ of the most frequently encountered antibiotic-resistant bacteria in clinical practice, the factors possibly contributing to such resistance and the key strategies to counteract it. Therefore, continuing medical education of physicians, pharmacists and nurses is recommended to keep them updated on antibiotic resistance and the best strategies and approaches to its containment. In addition, there is a need for the development of infectious disease protocols for hospitals to optimize the selection and treatment with antibiotics, to reduce side effects and costs and to minimize the development of antibiotic resistance.
Objective: To assess certain quality control parameters for seven brands of albendazole tablets obtained from different retail pharmacies.
Methods: The physicochemical properties and active ...ingredientsofseven randomly selectedbrands of albendazole tablets were assessed weight uniformity, hardness, friability, disintegration and dissolution
Results: All seven albendazole brands met the British Pharmacopeia (BP) quality control standards of weight uniformity, friability and the active ingredient content. Five brands met the BP disintegration criterion,whereas only two brands complied with the BP quality control parameters of the dissolution specifications.
Conclusions: Out of the seven brands of albendazole (400 mg) tablets, only two fulfillthe BP quality control standards and show physicochemicalquivalence. This emphasizes the need for regular assessment of marketed drugs to assure equivalenceof these drugs to their innovators.
Students' perceptions of their learning environment, by defining its strengths and weaknesses, are important for continuous improvement of the educational environments and curriculum. Therefore, the ...aim of this study was to explore students' perceptions of their learning environment, among medical students in Malaysia. Various aspects of the education environment were compared between year levels and sex.
This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Management and Science University, Shah Alam, Malaysia in 2012. A total number of 438 medical students participated in this study, and the response rate was 87.6%. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Comparisons of the mean scores of Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) subscales were calculated. The t-test was used to determine statistically significant differences.
The majority of the study participants were female, Malay, and from year 3 (68.7%, 65.3%, and 55.7%; respectively). Analysis of each of the 50 items of the DREEM inventory showed that 47 items scored ranged between 2.00 and 3.00, and three items scored below 2.00. These were identified as problem areas in this medical school that are required to be critically addressed. The overall score showed that the medical students' perceptions were positive. The students' perception toward educational environment was positive for all five DREEM subscales.
The study found that, in general, the perceptions of the participants about the learning environment were positive. Nevertheless, the study also found there is a need for curriculum improvement in this school and identified priority areas for such improvement.
Objective: To investigate the knowledge and perceptions of final-year medical students in the Yemeni universities about generic medicines. Methods: A two-month cross-sectional survey was conducted ...among final-year medical students in three Yemeni universities; Sana’a University, University of Science and Technology and Thamar University in 2013. Results: One hundred and sixty-five medical students out of 270 responded to the present study, with a re-sponse rate of 61.1%. More than 60% of medical students were not introduced to bioequivalence of generic medicines during their undergraduate study, and 80.0% of them had a low desire to inquire about it during their study. In addition, more than 60.0% of them were unaware of the similarity of generic medicines to their brand equivalents in dosage form and dose. More than three-quarters of the medical students incorrectly perceived that generic medicines are inferior in quality (80.0%), less effective (58.0%) and with more side-effects (47.8%) than their brand equivalents. The medical students in the present disagreed about the need for more information on the safety and efficacy of generic medicines. Conclusions: Yemeni students need to further enhance their awareness and expand their knowledge about the concepts and principles of bioavailability and bioequivalence of generic medicines if they are to contribute appropriately to generic medicine use.
•Only 56% of Arab parents plan to vaccinate their children, indicating that there are still some reservations among them.•Many parents are reluctant to vaccinate their children because of the ...vaccine's side effects, efficacy, safety, and scheduling difficulties.•Parents were encouraged to vaccinate their children through a doctor's advice, enough information, public acceptance of the vaccine, and a school district's obligation, among other methods.
The issue around vaccination of children has brought divergent opinions among the populations across the globe and among the Arab population. There has been a low response rate to the calls for vaccination of children and this is reflective of the sentiments which parents may have towards their children being vaccinated. This study aims to explore the parents’ health beliefs, intentions, and strategies towards the COVID-19 vaccine for their children among Arab population.
A cross-sectional study using an online survey from October to December 2021, was carried out in five Arab countries in the Middle East. A reliable health belief model (HBM) including five domains: severity, susceptibility, benefits, barriers and cues to action, was adopted. Chi-square, Mann–Whitney test, and multivariable logistic regression were performed for data analysis.
The survey response rate was 58 % (1154/2000). Only 56 % of Arab parents are intended to vaccinate their children against COVID-19. The mean scores of parental health belief are largely driven by their concern over the vaccine’s side effect (p = 0.001) followed by its efficacy, safety (p < 0.001), and scheduling difficulty (p = 0.029). However, strategies that were statistically encouraged parents to vaccinate their children included doctor’s recommendation, adequate information being provided, and acceptance of the vaccine by public (p < 0.001). Parents with one child were almost three times most likely to vaccinate their children (OR = 2.660, 95 %CI = 1.572–4.504, p < 0.001). Parents' desire to vaccinate their children is also influenced by other factors such as job loss owing to COVID-19 and the presence of a health worker in the family.
Intention of Arab parents to vaccinate their children via COVID-19 vaccine is still limited. Thus, it is essential for health care authorities to avail the information which will debunk the erroneous beliefs which some parents have developed towards the vaccination of children against COVID-19.
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