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INTRODUCTION: The Saudi Board of Emergency Medicine (SBEM) is required to assign educators including program directors to supervise their residents. These educators may impact the residents' academic and clinical performances. After thorough review, we noticed that the current literature lacks information about the direct influence of emergency medicine educators on their residents' academic and clinical performances. The main purpose of this study is to assess the residents' confidence level, and to measure the program directors' satisfaction of the residents' performances during their SBEM training years in Riyadh hospitals. METHODS: This concurrent mixed-methods study was conducted in nine training hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the 2021-2022 academic year. For the quantitative aspect, a cross-sectional survey was used, based on a questionnaire administered to postgraduate year (PGY)-2 to PGY-4 SBEM residents (n=120) using a nonprobability convenient sampling technique. The survey aimed to assess residents' confidence in their academic and clinical performance, influenced by their educators. A Likert scale with a total of 25 items, covering the seven roles of the CANMEDs framework, was employed. This assessment utilized a published tool called the In-Training Evaluation Report. For the qualitative aspect, program directors' perspectives were gathered through one-on-one unstructured interviews (n=9), guided by theoretical saturation. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select program directors. The interview tool collected demographic data, including gender, years of experience, and training hospital, and included 17 open-ended questions to explore program directors' opinions. RESULTS: The result of mixed methods showed that both quantitative and qualitative data sets were divergent with all independent variables (resident's age, gender, and training level) with the exception of the training hospital which was convergent. Thus, the residents' confidence toward their academic and clinical performances induced by their institutional educators was high. However, the program directors indicated changes that related to residents' training level. CONCLUSION: The residents' confidence toward their academic and clinical performance induced by their institutional educators was high. The educators had a great deal of influence over the academic and clinical performance of the residents. However, the program directors thought there were some issues with the performance of the residents. Most of the program directors also believed that several influential factors that may have affected the residents' overall performance include stress and receipt of constructive feedback.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Acne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory disease of the pilosebaceous unit, which includes the hair follicle, hair shaft and sebaceous gland. The only treatment that has an effect on all the main aetiological causes of acne is isotretinoin. However, it may have a variety of negative side effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of dermatologists regarding ocular effects following isotretinoin prescribing in the Aseer region, Saudi Arabia. METHODOLOGY: An anonymous online cross-sectional survey was conducted in August 2022 to investigate dermatologists' knowledge and attitude regarding isotretinoin-related ocular side effects in Aseer, Saudi Arabia. Participants were recruited using convenience and snowball sampling methods. RESULTS: A total of 48 dermatologists were included in this survey. The age distribution ranged from 25 to over 60 years. Sixteen (37.5%) were aged 31-40 years, 29 (60.4%) were male and 20 (41.7%) were specialists. All dermatologists reported that it can cause dry eye, 32 (66.7%) reported that it can cause contact lens intolerance, 10 (20.8%) reported that it can cause a decrease in dark adaptation and two (4.2%) thought that it can cause ectopia lentis and retinoblastoma. Regarding attitude, 43 (87.5%) thought that a course of isotretinoin is not recommended if the patient has recently undergone refractive surgery, 30 (62.5%) always inform patients about ocular side effects, 31 (72.9%) do not consider referring patients for ophthalmic examinations before initiating isotretinoin, 12 (25.0%) always prescribe lubricant eye drops, 15 (31.3%) always ask patients about recent refractive surgery, 17 (35.4%) always warn patients about avoiding refractive surgery during isotretinoin use and 19 (39.6%) always inform patients concerning discomfort with contact lenses. CONCLUSIONS: The survey reveals that dermatologists in Aseer, Saudi Arabia, generally have good knowledge of isotretinoin related to some ocular side effects, especially dry eye and contact lens intolerance. However, there is some variation in their practices with regard to patient education, referrals for ophthalmic examinations, the use of lubricant eye drops and refractive surgery during isotretinoin treatment. Thus, dermatologists should receive educational training on the safety profile of isotretinoin while managing acne vulgaris.
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Objectives (Background): Patients are often bothered by excess skin laxity and redundancy after weight loss. Body-contouring surgery offers a solution. This study assessed the psychosocial impact of body-contouring surgery on patients after weight loss. Methods (Settings, Design): In this cross-sectional study, a specifically designed questionnaire developed in collaboration with psychiatric department for our research was used for 43 patients who underwent body-contouring surgery. Data were collected during single visit to the plastic surgery clinic. All the patients had lost 20 kg or less before the surgery and were interviewed at least 6 months after the surgery. The questionnaire was used to compare the psychosocial status of the patients before and after surgery. Data were analyzed appropriately using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Results: The participants' mean age was 34 ± 10 years; the sample included 24 (55.8%) women and 19 (44.2%) men (total N = 43). The patients' quality of life improved significantly in the areas of social life (P < .001), job performance (P < .002), and sexual activity (P < .001). Moreover, while 17 (39.5%) patients suffered symptoms of depression before surgery, only 1 (2.3%) patient suffered symptoms of depression after surgery. The overall satisfaction was found to be 62.8%, with mammoplasty being the procedure with the highest satisfaction (66.6%). Conclusion: Body-contouring surgery after weight loss has shown to improve both psychological and social aspects of the patients' lives. Recall bias is the main limitation in our study.
