ABSTRACT
Background: Traditional remedies are mostly used as auto-medications for the treatment of physical diseases not only in Saudi Arabia but also worldwide. The traditional preparations are also prescribed by practitioners to patients who seek their consultation. Objective: The objective of this descriptive, cross-sectional study was to assess knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of medical students and their mothers towards traditional medicine (TM) and modern medicine (MM) in Tabuk city. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of purposefully selected University Preparatory Program (UPP) students (n=147) for health specialties and their mothers (n=61) was conducted to examine their KAP of TM and MM at the University of Tabuk and mothers' homes. A self-designed, self-administered questionnaire with 10-item to be answered mostly by "yes" or "no" was used in this research. Results: There were no significant differences in knowledge between students and their mothers concerning TM safety, efficacy, rapid cure, cost, and use in various mild diseases and cosmetic conditions. However, mothers' practice of TM differed significantly in regards to self-use of herbal medicines for skin diseases. Mother's attitude that TM is a primitive mode of treatment significantly differed from the views of medical students. Conclusion: The preliminary findings of this survey suggest that the participants differentially preferred the use of both TM and MM in the treatment of various physical conditions as well as for cosmetic purposes. Further research is needed to comparatively explore medical student and mother KAP of TM and MM in Saudi Arabia.
ABSTRACT
Background: There has been little research on electronic prescribing (EP) in Middle Eastern countries. This is in part due to the slow implementation of electronic health records [EHR] integrated with EP. Electronic prescribing is associated with a considerable reduction in medication errors compared to handwritten prescriptions. Objective: This paper reviews the relevant literature on handwritten and EP in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as focusing on global issues including problems related to handwritten prescribing, the role of EP in mitigating these problems, the functions of the EHR system with EP, ways of implementing EP, and identifying potential barriers and challenges in the Middle Eastern region. Search Strategy: Computer searches of PubMed and Google Scholar were conducted using the keywords “handwritten prescription,” “pen and pencil prescription,” “medication prescribing,” “medication errors,” “electronic prescribing,” and “electronic medical records.” Review Article British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research, 4(28): 4607-4626, 2014 4608 These keywords were combined with ‘mechanisms’, ‘standards’, ‘advantages’, ‘disadvantages’, ‘challenges’, ‘plan’, and ‘opportunities’ with the objective of comprehensively retrieving the peer-reviewed articles published in English language journals on this subject. A total of 101 studies were included in this work. Methods: Two of the authors of this work retrieved and reviewed 101 papers that met our inclusion criteria. Any disagreements were resolved by a consensus of all three authors. Results: There were more articles on handwritten prescriptions that involved illegible writing that resulted in medication errors than articles on EP due to a lack of research and slow implementation of EHR system in the Middle East. At global level, e-prescribing that was supported by well-defined standards and careful implementation was associated with a reduction in serious medication errors, morbidity, mortality, and service cost, as well as an increase in work flow efficiency, a higher quality of healthcare service delivery, and greater satisfaction of both healthcare providers and consumers. Electronic prescribing is now being practiced in many major medical centers and specialist hospitals not only in KSA but also in other countries of the region. However, there remains a need to implement EP systems in hospitals, primary care outpatient settings, and throughout the private health sector where it is missing. Conclusion: It is time for the widespread adoption of EP, EHR, and health informatics systems across Middle Eastern countries including KSA, as well as for systematic research to evaluate their effectiveness.