Perceptions of postoutbreak management by management and healthcare workers of a Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in a tertiary care hospital: a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVES: This study examines perceptions of the operational and organisational management of a major outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) caused by a novel coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Perspectives were sought from key decision-makers and clinical staff about the factors perceived to promote and inhibit effective and rapid control of the outbreak. SETTING: A large teaching tertiary healthcare centre in KSA; the outbreak lasted 6 weeks from June 2015. PARTICIPANTS: Data were collected via individual and focus group interviews with 28 key informant participants (9 management decision-makers and 19 frontline healthcare workers). DESIGN: We used qualitative methods of process evaluation to examine perceptions of the outbreak and the factors contributing to, or detracting from successful management. Data were analysed using qualitative thematic content analysis. RESULTS: Five themes and 15 subthemes were found. The themes were related to: (1) the high stress of the outbreak, (2) factors perceived to contribute to outbreak occurrence, (3) factors perceived to contribute to success of outbreak control, (4) factors inhibiting outbreak control and (5) long-term institutional gains in response to the outbreak management. CONCLUSION: Management of the MERS-CoV outbreak at King Abdulaziz Medical City-Riyadh was widely recognised by staff as a serious outbreak of local and national significance. While the outbreak was controlled successfully in 6 weeks, progress in management was inhibited by a lack of institutional readiness to implement infection control (IC) measures and reduce patient flow, low staff morale and high anxiety. Effective management was promoted by greater involvement of all staff in sharing learning and knowledge of the outbreak, developing trust and teamwork and harnessing collective leadership. Future major IC crises could be improved via measures to strengthen these areas, better coordination of media management and proactive staff counselling and support.

Biomarkers of oxidative stress in women with pre-eclampsia.

AIM: The potential role of oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of pre-eclampsia has been reported in the literature. There are only a few studies that have investigated changes in malondialdehyde (MDA), vitamin E and total blood glutathione together in pre-eclampsia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to measure the levels of MDA, vitamin E and total glutathione as putative circulatory markers of oxidative stress for the early detection of pre-eclampsia. PATIENTS & METHODS: In this case-control study, blood samples were collected from 40 pre-eclamptic and 80 normal pregnant females at the department of obstetrics and gynecology at King Abdulaziz Medical City (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) between February 2009 and January 2010. Circulating markers of oxidative stress were evaluated, including MDA, total glutathione and vitamin E, by high-performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: Markers of oxidative stress including serum MDA, total glutathione and vitamin E were found to be significantly different in both groups. CONCLUSION: MDA, vitamin E and blood total glutathione are possible candidate markers to predict pre-eclampsia.

Factors contributing to intra-uterine fetal death.

PURPOSE: We aimed in this research to explore factors contributing to the occurrence of intra-uterine fetal death (IUFD). METHODS: The study was conducted between 1st January 2008 and 31st December 2009 in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Patients who were diagnosed to have IUFD at ≥24 weeks of gestation and those whose dead fetuses were found to weigh ≥500 g after delivery were eligible to be included. 138 patients with IUFD and 237 controls with alive fetuses were enrolled. Data were collected from printed and computerized medical records of participants. Factors that may have contributed to the occurrence of IUFD were explored. Comparisons between various risk factors and outcomes of the two groups were done. p value was statistically significant if ≤0.05. RESULTS: Patients who did not receive antenatal care (ANC) services are at 70 % increased risk for developing IUFD (OR 0.31, p < 0.0001). Risk of IUFD increases 25-fold with the occurrence of abruption placenta (OR 25.81, p ≤ 0.0001), tenfolds with the occurrence of intra-uterine growth restrictions (OR 10.78, p = 0.04) and threefolds with the presence of hypertensive disorder in pregnancy (OR 3.17, p = 0.04). Finally, patients carrying IUFD fetuses are at higher risk to develop labor complications compared with their controls (p ≤ 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Despite the difficulty in predicting IUFD occurrence, it appears that carefully implemented ANC and timely management of at risk patients may contribute to its prevention.

Value of subspecialty experience in internal medicine undergraduate training.

We aimed from our study to assess how students and clinical supervisors perceive students' achievement in the internal medicine subspecialty clinical attachments in comparison with the general attachments. We conducted a cross-sectional study comparing students' self-assessment ratings during the Medicine Block general and subspecialties clinical attachments at our college of medicine during the period between February 2007 and June 2009. We assessed the level of agreement between students' self-assessment in the different subspecialties with their self-assessment in the general attachments. We repeated the same calculation for the supervisors' assessment. Eighty-three students were included; these students attended eight different clinical attachments. A total of 517 self-assessment forms were completed (120 general internal medicine clinical attachments and 397 forms in different specialty attachments). The clinical supervisors completed parallel assessment forms. The undergraduate medical students' perceived their achievement in the subspecialty attachments well. This was similar to their perception of their achievement in the general clinical attachments. The clinical supervisors perceived students achievement in the subspecialties to be similar to their achievement in the general clinical attachments. In conclusion, we do encourage the implementation of specialty and subspecialty undergraduate clinical attachments for all students as part of their curriculum requirements. Furthermore, we encourage the strategic utilization of specialties/subspecialties attachment distribution aiming to enhance students' future interest to achieve balance in the different health specialties/subspecialties manpower. Further research to support this recommendation is needed.

Antibiotic use and risk of gynecological cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Several studies addressed the association between antibiotic use and breast cancer risk. The objective of this study was to assess the association between antibiotic use and risk of cervical, ovarian, and uterine cancer. STUDY DESIGN: We carried out a population-based case-control study using data from Saskatchewan Health administrative databases (Canada) between the years 1981 and 2000. Cases were matched to 4 controls, using incidence density sampling. The effect of dosage and timing of antibiotic use, over a minimum of 15 years before diagnosis, on cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer risk was assessed. Number of prescriptions and number of pills were used as exposure definitions. The effect of different classes of antibiotics on cancer risk was also studied. RESULTS: A total of 1225 cancer cases [192 cervical, 445 ovarian, and 588 uterine] and 4900 matched controls were included in this study. Antibiotic exposure (number of prescriptions) during the period of 1-15 years in the past was significantly associated with a reduced risk of cervical cancer; Relative Risk (RR)=0.40, 0.31, 0.26, and 0.29 for the four exposure quartiles, respectively. No association was found for ovarian or uterine cancer. When number of pills was considered, similar results were found. There was no effect of the timing or class of antibiotic exposure on cervical cancer risk. CONCLUSIONS: Antibiotic exposure up to 15 years in the past was associated with a decreased risk of cervical cancer. The lack of temporal trends and the absence of class specific effects suggest a non-causal relationship.

Exploring factors affecting undergraduate medical students' study strategies in the clinical years: a qualitative study.

The aim of this study is to explore the effects of clinical supervision, and assessment characteristics on the study strategies used by undergraduate medical students during their clinical rotations. We conducted a qualitative phenomenological study at King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the period from November 2007 to December 2008. We conducted semi-structured focus groups interviews with students and conducted individual interviews with teachers and students to explore students' and clinical teachers' perceptions and interpretations of factors influencing students' study strategies. Data collection was continued until saturation was reached. We used Atlas-ti Computer Software (Version 5.2) to analyse the data, apply the obtained themes to the whole dataset and rearrange the data according to the themes and sub-themes. Analysis of data from interviews with twenty-eight students and thirteen clinical supervisors yielded three major themes relating to factors affecting students' study strategies: "clinical supervisors and supervision", "stress and anxiety" and "assessment". The three themes we identified played a role in students' adoption of different study strategies in the "community of clinical practice". It appeared that teachers played a key role, particularly as assessors, clinical supervisors and as a source of stress to students.

Visual estimation versus gravimetric measurement of postpartum blood loss: a prospective cohort study.

PURPOSE: One of the major problems in international literature is how to measure postpartum blood loss with accuracy. We aimed in this research to assess the accuracy of visual estimation of postpartum blood loss (by each of two main health-care providers) compared with the gravimetric calculation method. METHODS: We carried out a prospective cohort study at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between 1 November 2009 and 31 December 2009. All women who were admitted to labor and delivery suite and delivered vaginally were included in the study. Postpartum blood loss was visually estimated by the attending physician and obstetrics nurse and then objectively calculated by a gravimetric machine. Comparison between the three methods of blood loss calculation was carried out. RESULTS: A total of 150 patients were included in this study. There was a significant difference between the gravimetric calculated blood loss and both health-care providers' estimation with a tendency to underestimate the loss by about 30%. The background and seniority of the assessing health-care provider did not affect the accuracy of the estimation. The corrected incidence of postpartum hemorrhage in Saudi Arabia was found to be 1.47%. CONCLUSION: Health-care providers tend to underestimate the volume of postpartum blood loss by about 30%. Training and continuous auditing of the diagnosis of postpartum hemorrhage is needed to avoid missing cases and thus preventing associated morbidity and mortality.

Obstetric medical emergency teams are a step forward in maternal safety!

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The medical emergency team (MET) system was introduced successfully worldwide. With the exception of a few research publications, most of the described teams are based on patients' medical rather than obstetric management. The objective of this study was to review literature on the outcome of obstetric MET implementation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Systematic review has been done through searching MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, relevant articles references, and contact with experts. The author and one other researcher independently selected literature on the establishment or implementation of obstetric MET. There were no restrictions on language, sample size, type of publication, or duration of follow up. RESULTS: THREE PUBLICATIONS WERE IDENTIFIED: Catanzarite et al., Gosman et al., and Skupski et al. They were heterogeneous in terms of the method of implementation and the outcomes discussed. None of them discussed obstetric MET implementation in developing countries. CONCLUSION: In the literature, there is a lack of reporting and probably of implementation of Obstetrics METs. Therefore, there is a need for more standardized experiences and reports on the implementation of various types of Obstetrics METs. We propose here a design for Obstetrics METs to be implemented in developing countries, aiming to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity resulting from obstetric hemorrhage.

Role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are associated with an increased risk of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. The cause and the pathogenesis of the pregnancy-induced syndrome, preeclampsia, is still poorly understood. Published evidence of altered biomarkers for the endothelial dysfunction suggests that the initiating event in preeclampsia is the reduced placental perfusion, which leads to widespread dysfunction of the maternal vascular endothelium. This review focuses on the role of free radicals in generating the oxidative stress taking antioxidants into consideration which tend to overcome it as well as the role of placenta in preeclamptic pregnancy.

Redesigning an educational assessment program.

Changing educational assessment program represent a challenge to any organization. This change usually aims to achieve reliable and valid tests and assessment program that make a shift from individual assessment method to an integral program intertwined with the educational curriculum. This paper examines critically the recent developments in the assessment theory and practice, and establishes practical advices for redesigning educational assessment programs. Faculty development, availability of resources, administrative support, and competency based education are prerequisites to an effective successful change. Various elements should be considered when re-designing assessment program such as curriculum objectives, educational activities, standard settings, and program evaluation. Assessment programs should be part of the educational activities rather than being a separate objective on its own, linked to students' high quality learning.

The significance of documenting clinical appearance of the uterine cervix in the cervical cytology form.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether or not the Pap smear taker is reporting the clinical appearance of the cervix on the cytology request form, and if cytologist / smear taker are giving any importance to this information prior to issuing advice on subsequent follow-up. Finally, to evaluate the clinicians' response to normal Pap smear report in the absence of the clinical comment on the cervix. METHODS: A retrospective study, for a total of 1196 random smear results performed between 1999 and 2000 at King Fahad National Guard Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with its relevant charts were evaluated. The samples were divided into 2 main groups. Group I, the Pap smears sent with the absence of clinical description of the cervix, and group II, was sent with the clinical description of the cervix. Cytologist follow up recommendations and the clinicians' response were evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 1196 Pap smears were reviewed. Of the total 510 (42.6%) smears represented group I. Vast majority 506/510 (99.2%) were reported to be normal. A 12 months follow up was given for 505/506 (99.8%) smears. Only 4/510 (0.8%) Pap smears were abnormal and relevant cytologist's recommendations were given. Clinicians reassessed the uterine cervix for only 7.7% of the patients in the group. A total of 686/1196 (57.4%) smears represented group II. The vast majority 630 (91.8%) were with normal cervical appearance, 627/630 (99.5%) had normal cytology and only 3/630 (0.5%) had significant intraepithelial lesion. Relevant recommendations were given by the cytologist and were accepted by clinicians. A total of 56/686 (8.2%) had abnormal cervical appearance and 45/56 (80.4%) had normal cytology. A 12 months follow up was recommended for all except 7/45 (15.6%). Clinicians have followed these recommendations for all except 5/45 (11.1%). Eleven out of 56 (19.6%) smears were abnormal, relevant recommendations were given by the cytologist and all were followed by the clinicians. CONCLUSION: High proportion of cervical smears request did not report clinical appearance of uterine cervix (42.6%). In patients whose cervical smear was reported abnormal (8.2%), 19.6% of them were found with significant intra-epithelial lesion. The clinical appearance of the cervix should be documented on the Pap smear request. Follow up recommendation for Pap smears carried out without clinical appearance description should be left to the clinician.