ACCEPTANCE OF THE COVID-19 VACCINE AND ITS RELATED FACTORS AMONG IRAQI ADOLESCENTS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: To evaluate the acceptance rate of COVID-19 vaccine among adolescents and exploring the association factors that affect the acceptability of the vaccine. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: The study is descriptive cross-sectional study based on online survey conducted on 541 adolescents in Iraqi middle Euphrates provinces. Survey data was collected from November 28, 2021 to April 20, 2022. RESULTS: Results: The study showed that about 53% (288 adolescents out of total 541) had not been vaccinated yet and approximately 55% of the not vaccinated adolescents refused to take the vaccine. The mean reasons of this hesitancy were falsified information, insufficient information, concerned about safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. The parents whether infected with COVID-19 or vaccinated considered as strong independent factors that will increase acceptance of vaccination among the adolescents while afraid from the vaccine was considerable independent factor that decrease the acceptance rate. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: High hesitancy rate toward COVID-19 vaccination among adolescents and their parents play significant role model in increasing the acceptability while concerning of the vaccine safety decreasing acceptability.

EVALUATION THE PREVALENCE OF MULTIDRUG RESISTANCE BACTERIA AMONG IRAQI PATIENTS AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH PATIENTS' PREDICTIVE FACTORS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: The study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of multidrug resistance bacteria (MDR),, it's types and explore the patient's predictive factors associated with it. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: The study was a cross-sectional observational study conducted in a microbiology lab in AL-Zahraa Teaching Hospital and Alsader Medical City, in Najaf Province, Iraq. The participants included patients presented with different kinds of infections and caused by organisms isolated from different sources. The patients had positive growth media were 304 out of total 475 patients. RESULTS: Results: The data extraction sheet included the laboratory culture and sensitivity report and patient sociodemographic factors and risk factors. The study displayed an extremely high prevalence of MDR bacteria 88% and the prevalence of extensive drug resistance (XDR) was 23%, whereas Pan-drug resistance (PDR) prevalence was 2%. Specifically, Methicillin resistance Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) was detected in 73% of the total patients infected with Staph. Bacteria. The prevalence of Extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) was reached to 56% among the patients infected with Enterobacteria, while carbap¬enem resistance (CR) was recorded in 25% of the patients infected with different kinds of bacteria. Only education level was significantly associated with the prevalence of MDR. Patients with (college/post-graduate) education were associated with a low incidence of MDR. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: A very high prevalence of multidrug resistance bacteria was noted in patients with a bacterial infection. Among all patients' characters, only higher education was associated with lower incidence.

Pharmacist role to enhance the prescribing of hospital discharge medications for patients after heart attack.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore the cardiologist adherence with ACC/AHA guidelines on discharge medications for patients admitted with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), assess the predictors of cardiologist non-adherence and measure the impact of pharmacist intervention on improving guideline adherence. METHODS: The study included two consecutive phases: observation and intervention. It was carried out at Al-Najaf Center for Cardiac Surgery and Catheterization, Iraq, from August through December 2018. In the observation phase, medical records were reviewed retrospectively in order to assess the adherence to guideline. The intervention phase was performed prospectively by the clinical pharmacist, who conducted interventions including auditing, feedback and discussion with every prescriber. The reference of the recommendations was the guideline of American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology guideline (AHA/ACC). The primary outcome was the proportion of patients discharged with optimal treatment. Independent T-test was used to measure the difference in the means of age between the two patient groups. For categorical variables (gender, diagnosis, and comorbidities), chi-square test was used. Binary logistic regression was used to identify patient and disease characteristics associated with receiving optimal discharge regimen. RESULTS: The observation phase included 100 patients with ACS, while the intervention phase included 105 patients. A total of 50 interventions were performed by pharmacist, of which adding necessary medication was the most frequent (88%), followed by dose optimization (10%), and removing medication duplication (2%). Seventy-four percent of the provided recommendations were accepted by the cardiologists. Pharmacist intervention caused significant (P-value < 0.05) improvement (increasing) in the prescribing of ß-blockers, ACE inhibitors/ARBs, statins, and the proportion of patients who received all optimal five therapies (from 35% in observation phase to 80% after intervention). CONCLUSION: This study showed that pharmacist intervention had a considerable positive impact on the cardiologist prescribing pattern of the essential discharge medications for patients with ACS which could improve patient clinical outcomes.