ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND@# Administering oxygen therapy (OT) has an essential role in preventing/managing hypoxemia in both acute and chronic conditions. It should be adjusted to achieve the normal oxygen saturation of 94%–98% in most cases. This study aims to evaluate knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of nurses, paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) physicians working at emergency departments (ED) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.@*METHODS@# In this cross-sectional study, a structured questionnaire was used to assess KAP related to OT of nurses, paramedics, EMTs and EMS physicians currently working at an ED of a tertiary care hospital. Knowledge and attitude were assessed using a Likert scale from 1–5, whereas practice was assessed as a yes/no categorical variable.@*RESULTS@# A total of 444 emergency health-care workers (EHCWs) participated, of which 225 (50.7%) were male, with the majority (77%) in the age group of 20–35 years. Over half of the sample were nurses (266; 59.9%). The mean score for knowledge about OT was 5.51±1.45, attitude was 26.31±3.17 and for practices 4.55±1.76. The main factors which were associated with poor KAP were workload and lack of local guidelines. The distribution of overall practice score was significantly better among paramedics – nurses group and EMT – nurses group.@*CONCLUSION@# This study demonstrates that there is a gap in EHCWs' KAP, particularly regarding when to provide OT to a patient. This gap can affect patients' safety. Extensive educational and training programs about OT are needed to raise awareness among health-care providers.
ABSTRACT
Aim of the work: specialization in any field is known to be associated with higher productivity. Postgraduate dental education has a key role in providing the proper training for practitioners. This study aimed to assess the dental specialization trends among dentists who graduated from 2005 to 2015
Method: this observational descriptive study was conducted with the dental graduates of King Saud University. The participants were identified randomly and contacted via telephonic communication based on the list provided by the university academic affairs. The structured interview included 12 multiple choice questions to identify the specialty preferences of the graduate dentists. Chi-square and Fisher's exact test were used where applicable. The p-value < 0.05 was considered significant for all applied statistical tests
Results: this study included 233 dental graduates the majority of which were working in the government sector [70%]. Almost half of the subjects [49%] were general practitioners and had no specialization. Most of them had an interest in a postgraduate degree with prosthodontics being the most aspired specialty [30%]. The overall trend of specialization between 2005-2015 showed a marked decline in both local and international post-graduation [p-value 0.013]
Conclusion: specialization in the Saudi dentistry field is experiencing a decline in the number of graduates both locally and internationally. From here arises the importance of career and specialization orientation especially among the final year students to guide them in choosing their future specialties, while considering the needs and requirements of the community. This should be coupled with a proper recognition of the dental needs of the Saudi population