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Background: The epidemic of burnout has been widely documented among health discipline students. However, there is limited information available on the prevalence of burnout and its association with resilience among clinical-level respiratory therapy (RT) students. Methods: Between March 2022 and May 2022, a descriptive, cross-sectional study using a convenience sample of RT students and interns was conducted. A total of 559 RT students and interns from 15 RT programs responded to socio-demographic questions and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) questionnaires. The data were analyzed using descriptive, inferential, and correlation tests. Results: Of the 559 respondents, 78% reported a high level of burnout. Within the three subscales of burnout, 52% reported emotional exhaustion (EE), 59% reported depersonalization (DP), and 55% reported low personal achievement (PA). The prevalence of burnout increased as students proceeded to senior years (p = 0.006). In addition, participants with higher grade point averages (GPA) reported a higher level of burnout. Only 2% of the respondents reported a high level of resiliency. Further, there were negative correlations between resilience and EE (r = −41, p < 0.001) and DP (r = −32, p = 0.03), and a positive correlation with low PA (r = 0.56, p = 0.002). Conclusion: The findings showed a high prevalence of burnout among RT students and interns during clinical training in Saudi Arabia. Resilience was associated with all domains of burnout and is likely to play a protective role. Therefore, there is a need for collaborative interventions to promote resiliency during clinical training to alleviate and overcome burnout symptoms.
Background: Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are the mainstay of therapy in asthma, but benefits vary due to disease heterogeneity. Steroid insensitivity is a particular problem in severe asthma, where patients may require systemic corticosteroids and/or biologics. Biomarkers sensitive to ICS over a short period of time could inform earlier and more personalised treatment choices. Objective: To investigate how exhaled breath biomarkers change over two-hours and one-week following monitored ICS dosing in severe asthma patients with evidence of uncontrolled airway inflammation. Method: Patients with severe asthma and elevated FeNO (≥45ppb, indicative of active airway inflammation) were recruited. Exhaled breath biomarkers were evaluated using fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), exhaled breath temperature (EBT), particles in exhaled breath (PExA) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Samples were collected over 2 hrs following observed inhalation of 1000mcg fluticasone propionate, and at a second visit 1 week after taking the same dose daily via an inhaler monitoring device that recorded correct actuation and inhalation. Changes in parameters over 2 hrs were analysed by the Friedman test and 1 week by Wilcoxon’s test (p-value for significance set at 0.05; for VOCs false discovery rate q of 0.1 by Benjamini–Hochberg method applied). Results: 17 participants (9 male) were recruited with median (IQR) age 45 (36-59) yrs. EBT (p<0.05) and levels of six VOCs (q<0.1) fell over the 2 hrs after high dose ICS; there were no changes in FeNO or PEXA. After one week of using high dose ICS, there were falls in FeNO, EBT and two VOCs (p<0.05), but no changes in PEXA. Conclusion: Reduction in exhaled breath temperature over the short and medium term after high dose ICS may reflect airway vascular changes, and this, together with the observed changes in exhaled VOCs, merits further investigation as potential markers of inhaled corticosteroid use and effectiveness.
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