Pregnant women risk perception of medications and natural products use during pregnancy in Alahsa, Saudi Arabia

Introduction: The use of medications during pregnancy has increased in the recent years. Some congenital anomalies, birth defects, and miscarriages have been found to be preceded by some medications use during pregnancy. The use of herbal medicines is not yet proved to be safe during pregnancy, since some herbs showed increased risk of certain congenital malformations

Aim: This study assesses the pregnant women perception, beliefs, and attitude toward medication and natural products use and their influencers during pregnancy

Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study targeting women in Alahsa, Saudi Arabia. More than 300 women have responded to a pretested questionnaire collecting their sociodemographic, perception and attitude toward medication and natural product. The data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics under the supervision of a statistician

Results: This study involved 184 participants, 29.2% of pregnant women avoided using prescribed medications, 40.7% non-prescribed, and 33.3% natural products during pregnancy. Paracetamol was on the top of the avoided medications, and herbals were on the top of the avoided natural products. The most common reason for avoidance was fearing of its effect on fetus. More than half of the participants always looked for the product safeness. Pain killers, antibiotics, cinnamon, and pineapple are the most commonly believed products to be harmful during pregnancy. 1st trimester is believed to be the critical period in which medications and herbals should be avoided

Conclusion: Pregnant women should be educated more about unsafe products during pregnancy. Women's beliefs about natural products need further exploration because of lack of evidence

Post-Operative Pain: Mechanisms and Management

Background: Proper postoperative pain management, which can be advanced using a multimodal approach, results in pain relief with minimal side effects. Newer recovery protocols, along with minimally invasive surgeries add to the better management of post-operative complication. Many factors play a role in failure of proper postoperative pain management, which mainly include insufficient education, fear of complications associated with analgesic drugs, poor pain assessment and inadequate staffing

Methodology: we conducted this review using a comprehensive search of MEDLINE, PubMed, and EMBASE from January 1987 to March 2017. The following search terms were used: post-operative pain mechanism, post-operative pain management, non-opioid pain management

Aim of the work: In this study we aimed to understand the mechanism and the management of post-operative pain, along with shining some light upon the recent advances

Conclusion: Various combinations and modalities of pain management exist, and their use depends largely on the case, the patients, and their perception of pain. Enhanced recovery protocols have significantly improved perioperative and postoperative pain management, making the decrease in opioids need a priority

Road traffic accident: what is being practiced on the scene to RTA casualties in Al-Ahsa city, Saudi Arabia?

Background: In Saudi Arabia, road traffic accidents [RTA] is a burden to health, economy and community because of the increasing number of deaths and disabilities. Many victims of RTA had poor pre-hospital care undertaken by untrained lay people. Provision of first aid to RTA victims has helped in reduction the related morbidity and mortality

Aim: To assess how the car drivers' attitude and practice in case of RTA in Al-Ahsa city, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia

Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study between March and May, 2017 among drivers in Al-Ahsa city situated in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia. Using pretested interview-based questionnaires. More than 252 responses have been collected by trained medical students, and 249 responses have been included

Results: All the participants were male. 44.2% were bachelors and 45.4% students. A large number of the participants are non-first aid trained [73.9%]. 70.7% of the participants do not have willingness to provide first aid for road traffic accident victim. The majority [71.1%] have witnessed an RTA sustaining injured individuals and 36.9% have intervened. 67.5% of the responders have been involved in RTA themselves, and 29.3% of them have sustained at least one injury

Conclusion: There is an insufficient experience in dealing with RTA. The knowledge of the drivers about first aid should be sought further and explored. RTA in Saudi Arabia is a major problem that require an action and consideration from both the community and the government by increasing awareness and putting strict rules to enhance the community to assume a safe driving and improve their skills