Background: The overuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics cause antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) plays a crucial role in improving prescribing antibiotics. Although the Iraqi Ministry of Health has issued ASP legislation, its full implementation in clinical practice remains incomplete. Objectives: To explore physicians' perspectives regarding the current and potential implementation of ASP in Al-Nasiriya hospitals. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in Al-Nasiriyah public hospitals from December 17, 2023, to January 21, 2024, using face-to-face interviews. Physicians who prescribe antibiotics, work in Al-Nasiriyah public hospitals, and consent to participate in the study were recruited using purposeful and snowball sampling, and the size of the sample was specified by saturation. The interviews' audio was transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically. Results: Nine public hospitals in Al-Nasiriyah were included in the study. One hospital was excluded because the ASP was activated after data collection began. Sixteen physicians in different specialties were recruited, 15 males and one female. Thematic analysis revealed two major themes: challenges in antibiotic prescribing practices (3 subthemes: antibiotic selection, review, and practice, antibiotic mismanagement, and antibiotic resistance) and antibiotic stewardship implementation (4 subthemes: ASP knowledge and components, perceived benefits and importance, implementation challenges and barriers, and ASP enablers). Conclusions: There were many challenges in antibiotic prescribing practice, including antibiotic mismanagement and AMR. The participants acknowledged the importance of the ASP, but they mentioned many barriers to its application.
In Iraq, there is a limited research work exploring the clinical pharmacists' role from the point of view of other healthcare professionals.
To investigate physicians' assessment of clinical pharmacy services at Baghdad hospitals, and compare junior physicians with senior physicians' point of view.
The study was conducted in twelve governmental hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq. Data was collected from a sample of two hundred physicians, and through a validated, self-administered questionnaire, which comprised twenty statements in addition to a non-personal information form that precedes the questionnaire
The study findings reveal a somewhat positive point of view towards clinical pharmacists' performance in
... Show MoreE-wallet, also referred to as digital wallet, is a software application designed to replace physical wallets, with the primary purpose of facilitating online transactions when users wish to make virtual payments. Nowadays, E-wallets are not limited to mobile applications, but they have also been extended to wearable devices, such as smartwatches, enabling users to make payments via their watches. This research study focuses on three main E-wallet service providers in Malaysia, namely TouchNGo E-wallet, Boost, and Grab pay, as they are the top three E-wallets in the country. The aim of this paper is to explore the real-world implementation of E-wallets among mobile phone users in Malaysia, employing the Technology Adoption Model as the th
... Show MoreIn Iraq, because of the dramatic turnovers facing the country for three decades, pharmacists continue to experience significant professional challenges in both the public and private sectors. The present study aimed to explore the professional challenges and obstacles facing Iraqi pharmacists working in public hospitals. This qualitative study included face-to-face semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions with hospital pharmacists. The participants were selected purposefully (with ≥ 3 years of experience) to work at governmental hospitals in Karbala province between December 2022 and April 2023. The audio-recording interviews were scripted. Thematic analyses were used to generate themes and subthemes from the interview
... Show MoreThe use of antibiotics (AB) in surgery focused in either treating established infection or to prevent suspected post-operative infection. Inappropriate use of antibiotic for treatment of patients with common infections is a major problem worldwide, with great implications with regards to cost of treatment and development of resistance to the antimicrobial agent. Moreover, antibiotics may often be dispensed without a clear clinical indication. This study was conducted to estimate the medication errors in using antibiotic for surgery patients which may effect their wound healing. A 260 patients with clean-contaminated and contaminated surgery were included from two teaching hospitals, 160 patient from Medical city hospital and 100 from Al-
... Show MoreThe use of antibiotics (AB) in surgery focused in either treating established infection or to prevent suspected post-operative infection. Inappropriate use of antibiotic for treatment of patients with common infections is a major problem worldwide, with great implications with regards to cost of treatment and development of resistance to the antimicrobial agent. Moreover, antibiotics may often be dispensed without a clear clinical indication. This study was conducted to estimate the medication errors in using antibiotic for surgery patients which may effect their wound healing. A 260 patients with clean-contaminated and contaminated surgery were included from two teaching hospitals, 160 patient from Medical city hospital and 100 fro
... Show MorePharmaceutical care is a patient-centered, outcomes oriented practice that requires the pharmacist to work in concert with the patient and the patient’s other healthcare providers to promote health, to prevent disease, and to assess, monitor, initiate, and modify medication use to assure that drug therapy regimens are safe and effective. In addition, the presence of clinical pharmacists has led to a higher quality of patient education and provision of complete detailed information for patients. In developed countries Pharm D has become the professional degree for practice of Pharmacy. The graduates will be enrolled in a pharmacy residency program; admission to the residency programs is available to Pharm D graduates of an accredit
... Show MoreA descriptive study was conducted at two Epidemic Hospitals in Baghdad from 1st of August( 2003) to 1st of October (2004) in order to identify the nursing staff working in AIDS word to implementation of universal precautions for patients with AIDS and relation to some variable. The sample is consisted of (50) nurses who are working in AIDS ward in Ibn- Zuheir and Ibn- Al- Kahteeb Hospitals. Instruments consist of (20) items related with demographic characteristics of nurses and universal precautions items . Validity of the instrument was established through a panel of( 4) experts in specific fields . Descrip
Objectives: The study aims: (1) To determine effectiveness of instructional health education vascular access on hemodialysis patients' knowledge, (2) To find out the association between effects of instructional health education vascular access and demographic characteristics of (age, gender and educational level). Methodology: A quasi experimental study –control study design is carried out at AL-Hussein Teaching Hospital in AL-Nasiriyah City, from 3November,2015 to 2 June, 2016. A non-probability (Purposive sample) of (80) patients with vascular access devices on maintenance hemodialysis patients divided int
the visual and aesthetic characteristics of the city depending on understanding several levels of visual and aesthetic characteristics to the city, starting with the study of the physical characteristics and morphology of the city in general, and urban style to it, and then study of visual composition of the city from the optical components that affect the composition of the image (visual composition) of the city represent by pathways, borders, regions and the specific features as classified by (Kevin Lynch), and then studying the details and the attention of all elements that would confer the beautiful appearance as necessary for the needs of society and the environment in general, for example, interest in the distribution and c
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The present study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and experience of off-label prescribing practice among physicians in Baghdad city hospitals. This cross-sectional study was performed through the period from November 1st 2018 to March 2019 at 17 hospitals, a self-administered questionnaire was utilized to collect data from the physicians, and the targeted hospitals were randomly selected at different regions in Baghdad City area. Out of the 400 distributed questionnaires to the physicians, 383 of them were returned completed, 57.2% indicated that they were reasonably familiar with the term “off label drug”, 57.7% mentioned that the most common medical reasons for the prescribing o
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