No abstract

No abstract

Introduction: Medication error is unintentional and can be reduced by reducing the risk factors. Patients suffering from chronic diseases are at an increased risk of medication errors.

No abstract

No abstract

Background: Cultural differences affect the administration and results of health status questionnaires. "Cross cultural adaptation" ensures retention of psychometric properties such as validity and reliability at an item and/or scale level. Objective: To develop a Malaysian version of St George's respiratory COPD specific questionnaire (SGRQ-CM), to evaluate the full spectrum of psychometric properties (reliability, validity and responsiveness), to test the factor structure and to assess minimum clinically important difference for the SGRQ-CM, to be used in population of Malaysia. Methodology: SGRQ-C was translated to Bahasa Malaysia using a standard protocol. 240 COPD patients were included in the study. All patients were followed-up for six months. Construct validity, internal consistency, item convergent validity, test-retest ability, responsiveness, factor analysis and MCID of the Malaysian version of SGRQ-C to be used in population of Malaysia were evaluated. Results: The Cronbach alpha coefficient and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for SGRQ-CM were reported as 0.87, and 0.88 respectively. Correlation of SGRQ-CM with CAT, EQ-5D-5 L, mMRC dyspnea scales and FEV 1 %predicted were reported as 0.86, − 0.82, 0.72 and − 0.42 respectively. Correlation coefficient between the subscales and other clinical and health status measures ranged from r = − 0.35 to r = − 0.87. The MCID was reported as 5.07 (− 2.54-12.67). Conclusion: The Malaysian version of SGRQ-C has a good psychometric property comparable to those of the original version and has a strong evidence of validity, reliability and responsiveness towards disease severity in Malaysian COPD patients. It can be recommended as a reliable quality of life measure for future research.

Introduction Sleep apnea, a hyper common disorder is estimated to affect almost 1 billion people with the prevalence of more than 50% in some countries. It is almost impossible to do gold standard polysomnography for all the population for screening. Multiple studies have reported the use of cost effective wearable devices using photoplethysmography (PPG) for the screening. To our knowledge, we presented the first meta-analysis of all studies looking at PPG and screening of sleep apnea. Methods We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis under the PRISMA guidelines. Study Eligibility criteria included patients aged > 18 without a prior diagnosis of sleep disorder. The intervention included screening using a wearable device using PPG with comparison using standard of care sleep study (e.g polysomnography). The databases used were Cochrane, PubMed, Embase and Google scholar. Search strategy with Boolean logic included Sleep apnea, wearable device, smart, photoplethysmography, PPG, smart and smartwatch. Outcomes were pooled diagnostic odds ratio, meta-analyzed area under the curve (AUC),, and forest plots of sensitivity & specificity. Statistical analysis was done using the programming language R with R package mada. Fixed and random effects models were used to derive diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and paired forest plots for sensitivity & specificity. Summary Receiver operation curve was made using proportional hazard model and Reitsma et al model with a bivariate approach. Results The search strategy revealed following number of studies: PubMed (270), Cochrane (0), Embase (41), and Google Scholar(728). Total of 12 studies were included. We found high DOR with the fixed effect model which was 28.979. Mean DOR with the random effects model was 27.6. Bivariate diagnostic random-effects meta-analyzed AUC was 0.902. Studies used various electronic devices some of which are commercially available such as E4 Wristband, Galaxy watch 4, Smartwatch GT2, Belun ring etc. 4 studies used PPG solely while others used multimodal data. 7 studies used conventional machine learning algorithm for analysis. Conclusion Screening of sleep apnea could be done in a cost-effective manner from commercially available devices using photoplethysmography owing to possible high sensitivity, AUC and DOR. More studies for data replicability and further standardization is needed. Support (if any)

Introduction: Metered-dose inhalers are the most widely prescribed and dispensed inhaler devices worldwide for the management of asthma. The present study aimed to access the impact of educational intervention on the competency of community pharmacists of Islamabad, Pakistan regarding the pressurized metered-dose inhaler (MDI) technique. Materials and Methods: The intervention involved educating pharmacists practically through placebo inhalers and theoretically through literature brochures; based upon the "National Asthma Education and Preventive Program" inhaler technique. A total of 100 pharmacists were recruited from the rural and urban sectors of Islamabad. A covert simulated patient approach was used to evaluate the inhaler technique of pharmacists. Type of pharmacy, education status of pharmacists and the influence of already received training on the use of inhaler devices were the factors that demonstrated a significant positive association with the competency of pharmacists. Results: McNemar test was applied for pre and post-intervention intragroup comparisons to further access categorical variables. A p-values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. The competency of pharmacists increased significantly from 24% before intervention to 33% after intervention (p<0.001). Conclusion: Originally, the inhaler technique competency of the majority of pharmacy professionals was observed to be inappropriate. However, the educational intervention proved to be effective in substantially enhancing the skill of community pharmacists regarding the MDI technique.