Factors associated with anxiety symptoms among medical laboratory professionals in Khobar: Single institution study

Background

A clinical professional has a challenging role during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in providing timely and accurate results with limited resources and a rapid increase in the number of samples to be tested. However, during the ongoing pandemic, the anxiety level of Medical Laboratory Professionals (MLT) has not been studied in Saudi Arabia within the hospital environment.

Aim

To determine the associated factors related with anxiety level of MLT at King Fahd Hospital of the University (KFHU) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

The study design was a cross-sectional quantitative study. Data were collected by administering a paper-based questionnaire that was distributed among MLT at KFHU. The questionnaire consisted of three sections. The first two sections were prepared by the researchers and included participant demographics and questions related to COVID-19. The third section used the Hamilton Anxiety Scale to assess anxiety levels.

Result

The study revealed that 70.4% of MLT showed no signs of anxiety, while 19.2% showed mild/moderate anxiety levels, and approximately 10.4% showed severe to extreme anxiety levels. In addition, a significant association between the anxiety level and difficulty breathing among MLT wearing personal protective equipment was observed. Moreover, a significant association between sex and anxiety level was identified. Females MLT had higher percentages of severe anxiety (12.8% vs. 5.1%) and mild/moderate anxiety (24.4 vs. 7.7%) than males.

Conclusions

Protecting the mental health status of MLT is an essential part of public health measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Utilization of wearable smartwatch and its application among Saudi population

Study purpose

It is important to understand the users' perceptions toward the use of smartwatches and the various factors that affect the adoption of smart watches. These findings would contribute to the literature in understanding users' usage, preferences, needs, and expectations about smartwatches that would aid smartwatches designers and also decision-makers in integrating the smartwatch technology in various service-enabled areas such a healthcare, e-learning etc. To address this gap, the objective of this study was formulated to understand the actual consumers' perceptions of toward the use of smartwatches and explore the critical factors affecting the adoption and intention to use smartwatches in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was designed to assess the actual perception of use smartwatches and to investigate the influencing factors that affect the utilization among Saudi population using the survey technique. Questionnaire design was based on the domains of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to determine the factors affecting smartwatches utilization. The sample composed of Saudi Arabian residents aged 18 years and above. The response rate for the online questionnaire that was distributed through the social media applications was 58.61% representing 135 participants. The data was collected in November 2020 and analyzed using the Statistical Packages for Software Sciences (SPSS).

Results

The prevalence of participants who had knowledge about smartwatch was 94.1%. When comparing the demographic characteristics between those owning and not owning a smartwatch, it was found that educational level (X2 = 9.365; p = 0.025) and knowledge about smartwatch (X2 = 7.897; p = 0.005) had significant relationship with owning a smartwatch. When comparing between design aesthetic, perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment and healthology in relation to the socio demographic characteristics, it was found that respondents in the older age group (≥45 years) (F = 11.797; p <0.001) and those with master degree (F = 3.449; p = 0.002) observed to have significantly lower mean score in design aesthetic while females exhibited significantly higher score in perceived enjoyment and healthology (T = −3.629; p = 0.001) as well as design aesthetic (T = −2.070; p = 0.043).

Conclusion

Factors such as age, education, gender, income can significantly affect the adoption of wearable devices in Saudi Arabia.

Impact of cardiopulmonary resuscitation duration on the neurological outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

BACKGROUND

Patients experiencing cardiac arrest outside medical facilities are at greater risk of death and might have negative neurological outcomes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation duration affects neurological outcomes of such patients, which suggests that duration of CPR may be vital to patient outcomes.

OBJECTIVES

The study aims to evaluate the impact of cardiopulmonary resuscitation duration on neurological outcome of patients who have suffered out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

METHODS

This is a quantitate cross-sectional study where data is collected from emergency cases handled by a secondary hospital in industrial Jubail, Saudi Arabia, between January 2015 and December 2020. There were 257 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases, 236 of which resulted in death. The outcome is the survival of OHCA or death, and the neurological outcome by the cerebral performance category (CPC) score for survivors. A score of 1 or 2 defined as good CPC outcome and 3, 4, and 5 as poor outcome.

RESULTS

The mean for the duration of emergency CPR procedures in surviving patients is 26.5 ± 7.20 min, whereas in patients who died after the procedure it is 29.6 ± 9.15 min. Bivariate analysis showed no significant association between duration of CPR and Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) outcome but could be significant if the sample size is large. Age, however, is significantly related to the survivorship of OHCA and to a better CPC outcome. Younger patients are more likely to have better CPC outcome. A good CPC outcome was reported with a limited duration of 8.1 min of CPR, whereas, poor CPC outcomes were associated with prolonged periods of CPR, 13.2 min.

CONCLUSION

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Duration out-of-hospital cardiac arrest does not significantly influence the patient neurological outcome in the current study hospital. Variables such as the patient population's uniqueness, underlying medical conditions, or the specific study conditions may explain this variance between the bivariate analysis and the study conclusion. Therefore, a more comprehensive study is recommended in future.

Use of social media for the improvement of radiation safety knowledge among Saudi Arabian radiographers

BACKGROUND

Radiographers have used social media networks for education, research, professional development and other purposes. However, in Saudi Arabia, there are no studies on the use of social media by radiographers. Therefore, the objective of this research was to evaluate the use of social media for the improvement of radiation safety knowledge among Saudi Arabian radiographers.

METHODS

A questionnaire was designed to collect the data from Saudi Arabian radiographers. The questionnaire was created using Google Forms and was sent to 530 radiographers using WhatsApp. In total, 159 participants completed and returned the questionnaire through WhatsApp. The response rate was 30%. Basic descriptive statistics were employed to analyse the data.

RESULTS

Most of the participants (79.9%) thought that social media could be used as a tool for the improvement of radiation safety knowledge. Also, almost half of participants (49.7%) employed social media when they needed to obtain information about radiation protection. Similarly, a majority of respondents (69.2%) used social media when they required information related to radiation safety. In addition, 81.7% of participants observed on video the existing information on radiation safety. Also, 71.7% of them were disposed to expand the use of social media to obtain information for radiation protection in their professional activities.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate that social media can help to improve radiation safety knowledge among Saudi Arabian radiographers. Consequently, participants were willing to increase the use of these tools in their professional work.