Introduction: Although it is discouraged, community pharmacy customers can obtain oral corticosteroids (OCSs) without prescriptions from some community pharmacies in Iraq. Medication abuse is defined as the use of medication for non-medical reasons. Objectives: The study aimed to determine demographics, beliefs, and perceptions associated with the abuse of oral corticosteroids for non-illness reasons among community pharmacy customers. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in fall 2018 in four provinces in Iraq. Customers of 19 community pharmacies asking for OCSs for themselves without a prescription were administered a paper survey. This study used the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) to measure the relationship between the motivational factors and the abuse of OCSs. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationships between the use of OCSs for non-illness and six TRA factors: Normative belief, behavioral belief, evaluation of the behavior, motivation to comply, subjective norms and attitude toward behavior. Results: The study enrolled 141 participants (98 women and 43 men) taking asking for OCSs without prescription. Dexamethasone was the most commonly used OCSs (59.6%). Friends were the primary recommenders for corticosteroids abuse (28.4%). The main reasons for using OCSs were to increase appetite and gain weight (53.9 %). Approximately one-third (36.2 %) of the participants gained weight after using OCSs. The regression analysis of the TRA variables showed two factors were significantly related to the abuse of OCSs. Age had a significant inverse relationship with the abuse of OCSs and the "good appearance" belief had a significant positive association with OCS abuse. Conclusion: Some Iraqi community pharmacy customers use non-prescribed oral corticosteroids to increase appetite and gain weight. Improve body appearance represents the dominant incentive that urges people to use OCSs without prescription. Health officials and healthcare practitioners need to promote people's awareness about the risks of misusing OCSs through education programs and advertisements in public health settings, media, and social media. Article Type: Original Research
Objectives: The study objectives were to evaluate customer satisfaction with community pharmacy services and measure the relationships between customer satisfaction and pharmacy/pharmacist characteristics and customer quality of life. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey of a convenience sample of customers at 20 community pharmacies in 10 different geographical areas in Baghdad city between May and September 2018. We used the satisfaction items which were developed by Paterson and colleagues in 2013. The survey also assessed customer quality of life (QoL) with 12 QoL items. Results: The study recruited 400 pharmacy customers. Overall, customers reported good satisfaction with community pharmacy services. The most
... Show Morehave suffered from deteriorating residential neighborhoods, poor economic, social and urban living conditions of the population and deteriorating the infrastructural and superior services. These problems were the secretions of these cities' rapid urbanization. Based on the principles of sustainable urban planning and in order to achieve adequate opportunities for the lives of the population and provide them with sustainable livelihoods, policies have emerged to upgrade along the lines of community participation and programmes to reform and develop those neighbourhoods, raise their efficiency and make them livable. Thus, the problem of research was identified "The absence of a comprehensive cognitive perception of the most prominent facto
... Show MoreEducation around the world has been negatively affected by the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Many institutions had to transition to distance learning in compliance with the enforced safety measures. Distance learning might work well for settings with stable internet connections, professional technical teams, and basic implementation of technology in education. In contrast, distance learning faces serious challenges in less fortunate settings with inferior infrastructure. This report aims to shed light on the immediate action steps taken at a leading pharmacy school in Iraq to accommodate for the enforced changes in pharmacy education. The University of Baghdad College of Pharmacy went from less than minimal technology impl
... Show MoreBackground: Pharmacy internship programmes are driven by most developed countries to outweigh the ongoing growth in the pharmacy career which encourages pharmacists to play a significant role as healthcare providers. Objectives: This study examines pharmacy students' perception, satisfaction, challenges, and limitations with the internship curriculum. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey with different elements to examine students' perceptions of various aspects. Result: Most students reported a positive impression regarding their internships, however, they were less satisfied with the allowance for filling prescriptions and compounding also, the college's follow-up was inadequate. F
... Show MoreTensile strength is a critical property of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) pavements and is closely related to distresses such as fatigue cracking. This study aims to evaluate methods for assessing fatigue cracking in Asphalt Concrete (AC) mixes. In order to achieve optimum density at different binder contents, the mixes were compressed using a gyratory compactor. Tensile strength was assessed using the Indirect Tensile (IDT) and Semi-Circular Bend (SCB) tests. The results showed that the tensile strength measured by the SCB test was consistently higher than that measured by the IDT test at 25 °C. In addition, the SCB test showed a stronger correlation between increasing binder content and tensile strength. For binder contents ranging from 4
... Show MorePermanent deformation (Rutting) of asphalt pavements which appears in many roads in Iraq, have caused a major impact on pavement performance by reducing the useful service life of pavement and creating services hazards for highway users. The main objective of this research is investigating the effect of some contributory factors related to permanent deformation of asphalt concrete mixture. To meet the objectives of this research, available local materials are used including asphalt binder, aggregates, mineral filler and modified asphalt binder. The Superpave mix design system was adopted with varying volumetric compositions. The Superpave Gyratory Compactor was used to compact 24 asphalt concrete cylindrical specimens. To collect t
... Show MoreBackground: Practicing self-medication is common and a worrisome issue because of irrational drug use. This study aimed to evaluate self-medication knowledge and views among the final year pharmacy students in Iraq. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from December 2018 to January 2019. A pre-validated and self-administered questionnaire was recruited to survey pharmacy students at the University of Baghdad and Al-Rafedain University College. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20 (SPSS v. 20) software used to save and analyze the data. Results expressed as numbers and percentages. Results: A total of 344 students (response rate: 94.24%) with a mean age of 22.10 years includ
... Show MoreBackground: Background: Diabetes mellitus is a life-threatening disease. Global prevalence of diabetes mellitus is increasing rapidly providing a worrying indication and major threat to global health unless interventions are created through community awareness and knowledge regarding different aspect of DM.
Aims: To assess the level of awareness regarding diabetes risk factors, prevention and management among community members in Baqubah city and to identify any association between awareness level and some variables.
Methods: Across sectional study was carried out from the 1st of January - 30th of November 2019 in all primary health care centers (six centers) in center of Baqubah city. A convenien
... Show MorePatient safety is the main issue in health care organization, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality defines it as, “freedom from accidental or preventable injuries produced by medical care. Thus, practices or interventions that improve patient safety are those that reduce the occurrence of preventable adverse events”. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Iraqi pharmacist perception about the culture of patient safety. As well as estimate whether safety is a principal issue in their pharmaceutical practice this study was carried out on 435 pharmacists who are working in community pharmacies in various Iraqi provinces. A survey was distributed via the internet during the period from May to June 2020. A community pharmacy
... Show More