Background: Cholera is a contagious infection that can be fatal; in spite of this, it can be easily prevented by sticking to proper hygienic measures as well as administering cholera vaccine. However, prevention of cholera is highly dependent on the knowledge and attitude of the general population toward the symptoms and preventive measures of cholera, which is unclear in medical literature. Objective: This survey analysis aims to explore the level of knowledge as well as attitude and practice of people in Jazan, Saudi Arbaia toward cholera infections. Design and Setting: A self-administered structured questionnaire was distributed via online link to individuals living in Jazan region in Saudi Arabia. The survey included questions on knowledge about cholera symptoms, etiology, and prevention as well as attitude and practices of the responders on this type of infection in addition to sociodemographic data. Data analysis was done through SPSS program version 24. Results: 400 participants responded to this questionnaire. The mean score for knowledge section was 1.86 ± 0.990, for practice section was 5.07 ± 1.353, and for attitude section was 6.14 ± 2.346, all of them were below average rating. There was statistically significant difference ( P -value = 0.003) between different educational levels, with a positive correlation between educational level and level of knowledge about cholera. There was a statistically significant difference ( P -value = 0.034) between different genders. Females showed a significantly improved practice towards cholera infection. Conclusion: The level of knowledge of the public in Saudi Arabia is poor. Also, the attitudes and practices of people in Jazan area, Saudi Arabia is considered unsatisfactory. Further studies in other regions of Saudi Arabia are highly recommended.

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Background: While the role of pharmacists in the current pandemic control has been recognized worldwide, their coaching efforts to improve public’s behaviors that could prevent COVID-19 transmission has been rarely investigated. Objectives: To assess whether pharmacist-based virtual health coaching sessions could increase the proportion of people who practised healthy social behaviors, to test whether this model can increase the public acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines, and to measure whether these behaviors could actually prevent contracting COVID-19. Method: In this randomized controlled trial, adults who matched specific criteria were randomly allocated into 2 arms. The active arm received 12 pharmacist-based virtual coaching sessions delivered via Zoom® over a month. Participants allocated to the control arm received no coaching. At the end of the last coaching session, both groups were asked to complete a structured questionnaire for outcome assessment. Participants in the active group were followed up to 2 weeks after the end of the last coaching session to check if they contracted COVID-19 or not. The SPSS software version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Chicago, IL) was used for statistical analysis. Results: Of the 300 participants who gave consent for participation, 295 completed the study (147 from the active arm and 148 from the control arm). The proportion of those using face masks, avoiding crowds, and willing to be isolated if infected in the active arm was increased from 51.70%, 53.74%, and 59.86% at baseline to 91.83%, 80.27%, and 96.59% at the end of coaching, respectively (all with P < .05). In addition, the proportion of behaviors, such as disinfecting surfaces, not touching the T-zone, and avoid sharing personal belongings with colleagues at work was increased from 36.05%, 27.89%, and 46.93% at baseline to 63.94%, 52.38%, and 87.75% at the end of coaching, respectively (all with P < .05). Avoid touching the T-zone (OR = 0.43; 95% CI, 0.24-0.89) and using disposable tissues (OR = 0.30; 95% CI, 0.18-0.77), each versus using face masks appropriately were more likely to get COVID-19. Conclusion: Pharmacist-based virtual health coaching could be a potential strategy to increase the proportion of behaviors that could curtail the spread of COVID-19.

Context: Inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics can result in serious patient harm. Aims: To investigate the incidence, nature, clinical severity, and causes of antibiotic prescribing errors (APEs) in the emergency department (ED) of a large hospital in Jordan. Methods: A mixed-method approach was used to explore the incidence and types of APEs by direct observation of electronic prescriptions (EPS) of antibiotics over four weeks, and to identify causes of errors by semi-structured interviews with ED physicians. The clinical severity of APEs was rated by a committee of experts. SPSS V26 and NVivo 10 were used for the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. Results: The incidence of APEs caused by the use of EPS was 4.3%. Wrong quantity (32.62%), wrong dose (15.25%), and duplicate drugs (13.55%) were identified as the most common types of APEs. More than one-third of APEs identified were deemed clinically significant, seven were serious, and one was lethal. Minor and significant antibiotic APEs across physicians who attended workshops on EPS and those who did not were 75.00% versus 46.77% (p = 0.001) and 18.75% versus 52.41% (p = 0.013), respectively. Three major causes of errors were identified: 1) System-related (system crash, drop-down menu), 2) user-related (lack of computer skills), and 3) workplace-related (overcrowding, inadequate staffing). Conclusions: APEs generated by the use of EPS were common in EDs in Jordan, clinically significant, and multifactorial. Further research is required to cover pharmacists’ perspectives of this kind of errors.

The infectiousness of COVID-19 is high among the susceptible population, making the calculation of the reproduction number (R) an essential step to implement preventive measures. We aim to estimate COVID-19 transmission to determine if the disease is successfully controlled or extra measured should be adopted to attain this goal. The daily incidence data of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia from March 2 nd , 2020, to April 4 th , 2021, were obtained from the continuously updated Saudi Ministry of Health COVID-19 repository. To get accurate estimation of the situation over the last 4 months (from December 1 st , 2020, to April 4 th , 2021), we calculated the weekly (every 7 days) R starting from March 2 nd , 2020, and till the last week of the available data. The calculated values of R were represented as median, first quantile (Q1), and third quantile (Q3). As early as the first week of December 2020, the median R was 0.81 (0.80-0.83) which means that each existing infected case would transmit infection to only one person. This was followed by fluctuations over the next few weeks around R value of 1, reaching its highest level of 1.45 (1.42-1.47) between December 31 st , 2020, and January 6 th , 2021. This was followed by a relatively steady decline over the following weeks, with some till mid-March where the R values started to slightly rise again. Social distancing, protective precautions, avoiding abuse of the partial lifting, expanding the screening process, and other Saudi measures sound to be successful and should be replicated in similar communities. This measure should be continued till the vaccination process is completed, to reduce the number of contacts and to avoid uncontrolled transmission of the disease.