Factors Affecting Health Care Professionals' Adherence to COVID-19 Precautionary Measures.

Objective: COVID-19 is a public health emergency of international concern. There is still no definitive cure for this highly transmittable illness. Immunization and breaking the chain of infection is the only successful approach to mitigate its spread. Our study explored the adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures and its associating factors among Health Care Professionals (HCPs) working in Saudi Arabia. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, an online survey was conducted from December 01, 2020, to March 31, 2021, among 978 HCPs in Saudi Arabia. The self-administered questionnaire consisted of demographic information, COVID-19 preventive behaviors, knowledge, attitude, fear, and risk. Mann-Whitney U-test, Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis, Spearman correlation, and binary logistic regression tests were used in data analysis. Results: Most of the HCPs were Saudi nationals (86.9%), females (63.1%), age group 20-29 years (42.3%), Middle Eastern ethnicity (82.5%), and working in the government sector (80.8%). A 52.2% of the participants were compliant with COVID-19 preventive behavior. The most and the least compliant preventive behaviors were "wearing masks" (88.8% compliance) and "keeping social distancing" (60.7% compliance). Preventive behavior was significantly higher in HCPs having a) more knowledge of COVID-19 (U=104849; p 0.001); b) positive attitude (U=84402; p 0.001); c) higher fear (U=103138; p less than 0.001) and d) nursing profession (p 0.01). COVID-19 knowledge (p<0.001), attitude (p<0.001), and fear (p<0.001) contributed significantly to the prediction of preventive behavior compliance. A unit increase in COVID-19 knowledge, attitude, and fear scores raised the odds of being compliant with preventive behavior by factors of 2.34, 1.87, and 1.53 respectively. Conclusion: About half of the study participants were compliant with COVID-19 preventive behavior. Preventive behavior is significantly higher among HCPs having more knowledge of COVID-19, more fear, a positive attitude, and the "nursing" profession. Having more knowledge, a positive attitude, and more fear of COVID-19 may increase the likelihood of being compliant with preventive behavior.

Forensic implications of fingerprint verification failure among people with skin diseases.

Fingerprint analysis is one of the earliest and most commonly used methods of personal identification by police and forensic scientists at crime scenes. It has two key advantages: permanence and uniqueness. However, some skin diseases like eczema, psoriasis and viral exanthems can hinder the process of analysis and thwart identification; so it is important to recognise the effects a skin condition may have on fingerprint identification. The aim of this narrative review is to provide an overview of common skin diseases that are associated with fingerprint recognition failures as well as to recapitulate the forensic implications.

Incidence and prevalence of violence toward health care workers in emergency departments: a multicenter cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: Workplace violence and abuse in the emergency department (ED) has increasingly become a serious and alarming phenomenon worldwide where health care professionals are more prone to violence compared with other specialties. AIMS: We aimed to estimate prevalence, and types of work place violence made against health care workers (HCW) in emergency departments of Arabian Gulf area. METHODS: We performed a descriptive cross-sectional study at several emergency departments in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates wherein a previously validated questionnaire was distributed among health care workers. The survey consisted of 22 questions that assessed respondent's workplace violence and/or abuse encounters, protective measures, available work place policies, and actions implemented to detect and deal with violence and abuse against healthcare providers. Descriptive statistics was used and P value < 0.05 was considered significant for all statistical tests performed. RESULTS: Seven hundred HCW in eleven emergency departments agreed to participate in the survey. Four hundred ninety-two completed the questionnaire with a response rate of 70%. More than 90% of the respondents were in the 20-39 years old bracket with an approximately equal gender distribution. Then, 20.9% of the respondents stated that they were physically attacked and 32.3% were attacked with a weapon. Most of the respondents (75.6%) reported that they were verbally abused or bullied by patients or relatives of patients. Staff responses to emotional abuse varied among respondents with the most frequent response of "told the person to stop" (22%), followed by "took no action" (19%). Further, 83.3% of respondents stated that there was an existing policy and procedure guidelines for reporting work place violence while 30.1% reported that they had not used any of these measures. CONCLUSION: Workplace violence among HCW in the emergency departments are common in the Gulf area and can be serious in as far as use of weapons. Staff awareness focus on this under reported issue, and staff training to recognize and report potential aggression can predict a significant reduction of incidents.

COVID-19: Risk Stratification of Healthcare Workers in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and Their Knowledge, Attitude, and Fears.

Introduction With the expeditious spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), healthcare workers have undoubtedly faced a higher risk of contracting the disease compared to the general public. This study aimed to stratify the risk of coronavirus disease 2019 infection among healthcare workers in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia and shed light on their level of knowledge, attitude, and fear towards the disease. Methods A quantitative cross-sectional study, involving 978 Arabic and English-speaking healthcare workers, was conducted using a self-administered online questionnaire. The knowledge, attitude, and fear scales were developed by researchers using the most updated information regarding coronavirus disease 2019. The Objective Risk Stratification tool developed in the United Kingdom was used to measure the risk level of contracting coronavirus disease 2019. Collected data were analyzed and interpreted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software. Results Out of the 978 participants, 63.1% were female, 74.6% were 20-39 years old, 86.9% were Saudis, and 31.3% worked as physicians. The most common health-related risk factors for severe coronavirus disease 2019 among the study participants were smoking (23.4%), sickle cell trait (22.8%), and asthma (21.2%). The risk of contracting coronavirus disease 2019 was found to be low in 87.2% of participants, with those significantly at higher risk being male, non-Saudis, black Africans, and 70-79 years old. The knowledge level was found to be high among 54.7% of participants, with significantly higher levels being reported among females, non-Saudis, and participants who were either physicians or pharmacists. The most commonly cited source of knowledge was the Saudi Ministry of Health (82%). Participants largely demonstrated a positive attitude towards the disease (53.9%), particularly those working as physicians and in the governmental sector. The majority of participants (54.4%) were found to have a high level of fear toward the disease, with significantly higher levels being reported among females, 30-39 years old, and those who were either nurses or pharmacists. Conclusion The present study demonstrated significant sociodemographic variability among healthcare workers in the Eastern province, with respect to their risk of contracting coronavirus disease 2019 and their levels of knowledge, attitude, and fear toward the disease.