Objectives The objective of this study was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare providers (HCPs) at personal and professional levels. Methods This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. It was conducted using an electronic format survey through Qualtrics Survey Software in English. The target participants were HCPs working in any healthcare setting across Iraq. The survey was distributed via two professional Facebook groups between 7 April and 7 May 2020. The survey items were adopted with modifications from three previous studies of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Avian Influenza Outbreak. Kruskal–Wallis test was conducted to determine the difference in the pandemic impact according to the dealing with COVID-19 cases. Key findings The authors received 430 surveys from HCPs representing 14 provinces. Approximately 60% of the participants were dealing with diagnosis or treatment of COVID-19 cases. More than 80% perceived high risk of infection and stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, 85.9% of the HCPs had concerns of putting family and close friends at risk due to their job during the COVID-19 crisis. HCPs working in a setting dealing with diagnosis/treatment of COVID-19 cases experienced significantly higher concerns about personal and family safety compared with other HCPs. Conclusions Working during COVID-19 pandemic has several negative impacts on HCPs including mental and physical health and an overwhelming work environment. Thus, social and emotional support is needed to help HCPs to cope with such stressful conditions. Finally, providing adequate PPE can help to minimise concerns of getting infected in the workplace.

This study aimed to assess the extent to which healthcare students use five informational technologies for daily academic purposes and to examine the changes in student perceptions toward these technologies over five years. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study in 10 different colleges in seven governorates. We conducted a survey using the instruments developed from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The surveys were administered to convenience samples of students at the colleges of pharmacy, medicine, and dentistry in the participating universities. The survey was conducted three times over three different years: 2015, 2018, 2020. Five Information and Communication Technology components were included in the study: electronic course management (ECM), internet, computer, audio recording/commentary, and PowerPoint slides. The surveys were electronic and administered using Qualtrics Survey Software. For most respondents, the survey links were administered electronically via Facebook groups to convenience samples of students of the Bachelor programs. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to measure the difference among the three (years) surveys results. The multiple linear regression analysis was used to measure the associations between the five predictors of the TAM and the outcome variable (actual use of technology). There was a total of 3,113 valid surveys collected in 2015, 2018, and 2020. Nearly two thirds of participants were females. Most students did not have enough experience in using ECM before classes closure in March 2020. Lack of facilitating conditions and infrastructures like an expert technical support team and stable internet connections are negatively impacting students' acceptance of technology use in education. Moving from mainly face-to-face learning with partial electronic use in 2015 and 2018 to totally virtual learning in 2020 had a negative impact on the perceptions of healthcare college students of the five technologies across the five TAM domains (perceived usefulness, facilitating condition, ease of use, attitude toward use, intention to use) and the actual use of these technologies. The TAM successfully explained the factors influencing the actual use of technologies by healthcare college students. Continuing technical support and training can reduce students' electronic challenges. Technical status assessment needs to be done at the beginning, mid and end of the semester to evaluate the technical challenges facing students in online learning. The study tools are internationally adoptable to evaluate the student perceptions of the ICT implementation for research and academic annual assessment purposes.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease characterized by deteriorating articular cartilage. Most patients may not get enough control of symptoms in spite of the availability of various treatment options. Because of the synergistic impact of flavonoids and ginkgolides, Ginkgo biloba (GB) has been shown to possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties besides its generally safe profile. This study aims to assess the efficacy and safety of the Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) in patient with Knee OA . Methods: This is a randomized double blinded clinical trial conducted in a private orthopaedic clinic in Al-Najaf Government-Iraq between 1st November 2021 to 1st June 2022. Patients were randomized into two groups; Group A administered the standard treatment (diclofenac capsule 100 milligram sustained released with paracetamol 1 gram twice daily) with GBE capsule  120 milligram twice daily, while Group B administered the standard treatment with placebo (starch) capsule only. The Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) was performed to assess the efficacy of the GBE in patient with Knee OA for eight weeks.Results: 60 patients (Group A: mean age 54.2±8.6, male 24.24%, female 75.76%; Group B: mean age 58.0±8.4, male 22.22%, female 77.78%) successfully completed the eight weeks follow up. Pain, symptoms, sport, activity of daily living (ADL) scores showed significant improvement in Group A from the first two weeks after treatment with GB in comparison with group B. however, scores of quality of life (QOL) were not significantly improved in two group comparison at each assessment week. Only 10 patients (group A:8, group B:2) reported gastrointestinal adverse effects during the study which were all mild. Conclusions: GB may provide additional beneficial health effects to patients with knee OA based on KOOS scores when add to the standard treatment regime. Registration: ClincialTrials.gov (NCT05398874, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05398874).

Purpose: This study aims to explore household medicine wastes and their storage and disposal behavior in Iraq. This is a cross-sectional study conducted through an online questionnaire. Method: This is a cross-sectional study using an online form. The study collected data on the demographic of precipitants, the quantity and class of medication wastes, and the method of eliminating and discarding behaviors in Iraq. Results: A total of 742 house reports were included. There were 22,072 waste items in total. Paracetamol was the highest medication wasted (10.7%) product. The overall number of expired medications was 5332, with anti-infectives accounting for the biggest share (10.4 %). The majority of the expired drugs (78.1 %) were discarded in the garbage, whereas (61.7 %) of non-expired wastes are retained for future use. Among the various potential factors evaluated as a source of waste and expired drugs, 21.9 % were attributed to patient improvement. Regarding the storage sites, the refrigerator was the primary location. Conclusion: In conclusion, there is a large volume of domestic pharmaceutical waste which discarded in unplanned and harmful ways.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease characterized by deteriorating articular cartilage. Most patients may not get enough control of symptoms in spite of the availability of various treatment options. Because of the synergistic impact of flavonoids and ginkgolides, Ginkgo biloba (GB) has been shown to possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties besides its generally safe profile. This study aims to assess the efficacy of the Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) in patient with Knee OA. Methods: This is a randomized double blinded clinical trial conducted in a private orthopaedic clinic in Al-Najaf Government-Iraq. Patients were randomized into two groups; Group A administered the standard treatment (diclofenac capsule 100 milligram sustained released with paracetamol 1 gram twice daily) with GBE 120 milligram twice daily, while Group B administered the standard treatment with placebo (starch) capsule only. The Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) was performed to assess the efficacy of the GBE in patient with Knee OA for eight weeks. Results: 60 patients successfully completed the eight weeks follow up. Pain, symptoms, sport, activity of daily living (ADL) scores showed significant improvement in Group A from the first two weeks after treatment with GB in comparison with group B. however, scores of quality of life (QOL) were not significantly improved in two group comparison at each assessment week. Only 10 patients reported gastrointestinal adverse effects during the study which were all mild. Conclusions: GB may provide additional beneficial health effects to patients with knee OA based on KOOS scores when add to the standard treatment regime. Registration: ClincialTrials.gov (NCT05398874, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05398874).