ABSTRACT
Background: Vitamin D plays a major role in health. Several health disorders have been associated with its deficiency. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the knowledge of and attitude towards vitamin D of pharmacy and engineering students in the University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted during February-April, 2018. A 30 questions survey in English was designed, pre-validated and distributed to 250 students. The questionnaire was designed to evaluate and compare student’s knowledge and awareness of vitamin D.Results: 213 participants completed the survey producing a response rate of 85.2%. The majority of students were Arabs, females and of age ranging 21-23 years. Almost all pharmacy students were familiar with many aspects of vitamin D. Unlike engineering (66; 66.6%), most (113; 99.1%) pharmacy students know the meaning of osteoporosis. Knowledge of pharmacy students on vitamin D was generally better than that of engineering students particularly with questions on technical parameters of vitamin D levels and dosage. Students who took vitamin D test were advised by a physician. Most of the students from both colleges have a positive attitude to receive information on vitamin D through brochures, lectures/seminars and workshops.Conclusions: Awareness of non-health sciences and to some extent of pharmacy students seems to be inadequate and efforts are needed to increase awareness of the public in general of the importance of vitamin to health status.
ABSTRACT
Background: Medication disposal is one of the topics overlooked by the population in the United Arab Emirates. The present study aims at assessing the knowledge, attitude and practice of public to appropriate disposal of medications in Sharjah, UAE.Methods: A cross-sectional study on randomly selected subjects was conducted using a pre-piloted questionnaire written in Arabic and English and distributed to 250 subjects. The survey was designed with 22 questions to assess knowledge, attitude and practice on safe disposal of expired medication.Results: More than half (120, 54.8 %) of the participants were females of age 17-25 (100, 45.7%) and with a university or a higher degree (124, 56.6%). A total of 131 (59.8%) of the participants reported that they do not take any precautions when disposing hazardous products and they just throw them in the general waste. Regardless of their educational level, 90 (41.1%) of the respondents believed that throwing medications in the general waste is the safest way of disposal. The majority of participants (202, 92.3%) reported that they never received counselling from pharmacists on safe disposal of expired and unused medications.Conclusions: International guidelines on safe medication disposal need to be adopted by health authorities. Providing secure collection boxes in various residential areas and increasing public awareness of medication抯 safe disposal are important steps that could be implemented in the UAE. Pharmacists should also play a major role in guiding and instructing patients on this topic.
ABSTRACT
Background: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of drivers of the cautious driving while taken prescription and OTC drugs.Methods: A cross sectional questionnaire was developed, pre-validated and distributed to 150 drivers who showed willingness to participate in the study. The survey included questions on driving habits, number of accidents, and number of accidents due to sleep or medication use.Results: All drivers approached answered the questionnaire producing a 100% response rate with male: female ration being 1.2: 1. Slightly more than half (78, 52 and 80, 53.3%) the responders were within 17-28 years of age and with a university degree respectively. More than 50% of respondents follow driving regulations and more than two thirds (112, 74.4%) use seat built again the majority (133, 88.7%) never had traffic accidents. Use of medications as a cause of accidents was reported by only 4 (2.7%) drivers.Conclusions: Regardless of the low incidence of medication use related accidents, authorities are advised to develop new regulations with respect to driving under the influence of medications or when suffering diseases that affect driving ability.