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ObjectivesMany students seem to find pharmacology learning very challenging due to the complexity and variety of drugs they have to study. The number of drugs the students have to learn, the duration of time to learn the medications, and the evolving nature of diseases demanded learning beyond the classroom walls. This study explored and described nursing students' experiences in community and hospital-based pharmacy practice sites during their service-learning and its implications for pharmacology pedagogical practices.MethodsKolb's learning theory provided the framework to explore nursing students' 48-hour service-learning experiences at community/hospital-based pharmacies in Belize and its implications for pharmacology pedagogy. The study utilized two qualitative approaches, reflective journals and focus group interviews, to collect data from 46 second-year nursing students. NVivo software and coding schemes were employed to analyze the data from the interviews and reflective journals.ResultsStudents reported learning medications, integrating classroom pharmacological knowledge at pharmacy practice sites, acquiring and enhancing communication skills, interpreting prescriptions, dispensing medications, drug calculations, taking inventory, doing vital signs, and patient education. In addition, students reported experiencing inter-professional relationships as healthcare team members. Anxiety was a major challenge experienced by many students at the beginning of the service-learning experience.ConclusionsThis study highlights the importance of experiential learning of pharmacology amongst second year nursing students, offering the opportunity to inform and support pharmacotherapeutics educators in designing strategies for more effective teaching of medications to nursing students. It also supports the addition of pharmacy placements to the nursing curriculum' as it shows that nursing students can learn medications, skills, and teamwork from experiential pharmacy site posting. Combining classroom instruction with pharmacy experiential service learning might be an effective complement for teaching nursing pharmacology.

This study assessed the determinants that shape HIV knowledge and attitudes among South Sudanese women by analysing a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey collected from 9,061 women in 9,369 households. Generalised linear mixed model regression was performed. Fifty percent of respondents were aware of HIV/AIDS, with 21% and 22% exhibiting good knowledge and positive attitudes towards people with HIV/AIDS, respectively. When controlled for individual and community-level variables, younger women (AOR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.01-162), women with primary (AOR = 2.19; 95% CI: 1.86-2.58) and secondary (AOR = 4.48; 95% CI: 3.38-5.93) education, and those living in urban areas (AOR = 1.40; 95% CI: 1.12-1.76) had significantly good knowledge. Women in the richer (AOR = 1.60; 95% CI: 1.08-2.36) and the richest (AOR = 2.02; 95% CI: 1.35-3.02) wealth quintiles had significant positive attitudes towards people with HIV/AIDS. Well-designed social and behavioural campaigns targeting uneducated women and those living in rural and remote settings will enhance knowledge of perceived risk, awareness, and ability to carry out preventive behaviours.

BACKGROUND:Prescription and administration of oxygen in emergencies by healthcare providers are reported to be inappropriate in most settings. There is a huge gap in the knowledge of health care providers on various aspects of oxygen therapy, and this may be a barrier to optimal oxygen administration. Hence, it is essential to ascertain providers' knowledge of acute oxygen therapy so that appropriate educational interventions are instituted for better delivery. There is no available validated instrument to assess knowledge of acute oxygen therapy. The study aimed to develop, validate and evaluate the test-retest reliability of a questionnaire to determine the doctors and nurses understanding of acute oxygen therapy. METHODS:This study involved the development of the questionnaire contents by a literature review, assessment of face validity (n = 5), content validity, using a panel of experts (n = 10), item analysis and test-retest reliability among a sample (n = 121) of doctors and nurses. RESULTS:Face validity indicated that the questionnaire was quick to complete (10-15 min), most items were easy to follow and comprehensible. The global content validity index (S-CVI) was 0.85. The test-retest reliability statistics showed a kappa coefficient of 0.546-0.897 (all P

Background: Prescription and administration of oxygen in emergencies by healthcare providers are reported to be inappropriate in most settings. There is a huge gap in the knowledge of health care providers on various aspects of oxygen therapy, and this may be a barrier to optimal oxygen administration. Hence, it is essential to ascertain providers’ knowledge of acute oxygen therapy so that appropriate educational interventions are instituted for better delivery. There is no available validated instrument to assess knowledge of acute oxygen therapy. The study aimed to develop, validate and evaluate the test-retest reliability of a questionnaire to determine the doctors and nurses understanding of acute oxygen therapy. Methods: This study involved the development of the questionnaire contents by a literature review, assessment of face validity (n = 5), content validity, using a panel of experts (n = 10), item analysis and test-retest reliability among a sample (n = 121) of doctors and nurses. Results: Face validity indicated that the questionnaire was quick to complete (10–15 min), most items were easy to follow and comprehensible. The global content validity index (S-CVI) was 0.85. The test-retest reliability statistics showed a kappa coefficient of 0.546–0.897 (all P<0.001) and percentage agreement of 80–98.3% indicating high temporal stability in the target population. In total, 90% of the items fulfilled the reliability acceptance criteria. Item discrimination analysis showed that most questions were at an acceptable level. The final questionnaire included 37 item questions and eight sections. Conclusion: The designed questionnaire is a reliable and valid tool for assessing knowledge of acute oxygen therapy among doctors and nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to characterise phenotypically helmeted Guinea fowls in three agro-ecologies in Nigeria using multivariate approach. Eighteen biometric characters, four morphological indices and eleven qualitative physical traits were investigated in a total of 569 adult birds (158 males and 411 females). Descriptive statistics, non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis H test followed by the Mann-Whitney U and Dunn-Bonferroni tests for post hoc, Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA), Univariate Analysis, Canonical Discriminant Analysis, Categorical Principal Component Analysis and Decision Trees were employed to discern the effects of agro-ecological zone and sex on the morphostructural parameters. Agro-ecology had significant effect (P

The recent outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa has ravaged many lives. Effective containment of this outbreak relies on prompt and effective coordination and communication across various interventions; early detection and response being critical to successful control. The use of information and communications technology (ICT) in active surveillance has proved to be effective but its use in Ebola outbreak response has been limited. Due to the need for timeliness in reporting and communication for early discovery of new EVD cases and promptness in response; it became imperative to empower the response team members with technologies and solutions which would enable smooth and rapid data flow. The Open Data Kit and Form Hub technology were used in combination with the Dashboard technology and ArcGIS mapping for follow up of contacts, identification of cases, case investigation and management and also for strategic planning during the response. A remarkable improvement was recorded in the reporting of daily follow-up of contacts after the deployment of the integrated real time technology. The turnaround time between identification of symptomatic contacts and evacuation to the isolation facility and also for receipt of laboratory results was reduced and informed decisions could be taken by all concerned. Accountability in contact tracing was ensured by the use of a GPS enabled device. The use of innovative technologies in the response of the EVD outbreak in Nigeria contributed significantly to the prompt control of the outbreak and containment of the disease by providing a valuable platform for early warning and guiding early actions.

The COVID-19 global pandemic is being driven by evolving SARS-CoV-2 variants with consequential implications on virus transmissibility, host immunity, and disease severity. Continuous molecular and genomic surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 variants is therefore necessary for public health interventions toward the management of the pandemic. This study is a retrospective analysis of COVID-19 cases reported in a Nigerian tertiary institution from July to December 2021. In total, 705 suspected COVID-19 cases that comprised 547 students and 158 non-students were investigated by real time PCR (RT-PCR); of which 372 (~52.8%) tested positive for COVID-19. Using a set of selection criteria, 74 (~19.9%) COVID-19 positive samples were selected for next generation sequencing. Data showed that there were two outbreaks of COVID-19 within the university community over the study period, during which more females (56.8%) tested positive than males (47.8%) (p<0.05). Clinical data together with phylogenetic analysis suggested community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through mostly asymptomatic and/or pre-symptomatic individuals. Confirmed COVID-19 cases were mostly mild, however, SARS-CoV-2 delta (77%) and omicron (4.1%) variants were implicated as major drivers of respective waves of infections during the study period. This study highlights the importance of integrated surveillance of communicable disease during outbreaks., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Adeyemi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: The simultaneous or intermittent use of alternative treatments and prescription medications for hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus can have adverse health effects., Objectives: To identify beliefs and practices associated with the use of alternative treatments for hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus among patients., Methods: A mixed-methods study including an investigator-administered survey and focus group discussion sessions using convenience sampling was conducted among patients aged ≥18 years during May to August 2018. Descriptive statistics were used to describe and compare demographic characteristics among groups of survey participants using JMP Pro 14.0. Thematic analysis was conducted to analyze the qualitative data using NVivo., Results: Most study participants (87-90%) were on prescription medication for their condition. Of survey participants, 69% reported taking their medication as prescribed and 70% felt that prescription medicine was controlling their condition. Almost all participants (98%) reported using alternative treatments, mainly herbal medications, and 73-80% felt that herbal medicines controlled their conditions. One-third believed that herbal medicines are the most effective form of treatment and should always be used instead of prescription medication. However, most participants (85%) did not believe that prescription and herbal treatments should be used simultaneously. Most (76-90%) did not discuss herbal treatments with their healthcare providers. Four themes emerged from the focus group sessions: 1) Simultaneous use of herbal and prescription medicine was perceived to be harmful, 2) Patients did not divulge their use of herbal medicine to healthcare providers, 3) Alternative medicines were perceived to be highly effective, and 4) Religiosity and family elders played key roles in herbal use., Conclusions: This study provides useful insights into perceptions and use of alternative treatments by patients that can be used by healthcare providers in developing appropriate interventions to encourage proper use of prescription medicines and alternative medicines resulting in improved management of these chronic diseases., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Global HIV funding cutbacks have been accompanied by the adoption of user fees to address funding gaps in treatment programs. Our objective was to assess the impact of user fees on HIV care utilization and medication adherence in Nigeria., Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients enrolled in care before (October 2012-September 2013) and after (October 2014-September 2015) the introduction of user fees in a Nigerian clinic. We assessed pre- vs. post-user fee patient characteristics and enrollment trends, and determined risk of care interruption, loss to follow-up, and optimal medication adherence., Results: After fees were instituted, there was a 66% decline in patient enrollment and 75% decline in number of ART doses dispensed. There was no difference in the proportion of female clients (64% vs 63%, p = 0.46), average age (36 vs. 37 years, p = 0.15), or median baseline CD4 (220/ul vs. 222/uL, p = 0.24) in pre- and post-fee cohorts. There was an increase in clients employed and/or had tertiary education (24% vs. 32%, p<0.001). Compared to pre-fee patients, the post-fee period had a 48% decreased risk of care interruption (aRR = 0.52, 95%CI:0.39-0.69), 22% decreased LTFU risk (aRR = 0.64, 95%CI:0.96), and 27% decreased odds of optimal medication adherence (aOR = 0.7, 3 95%CI 0.59-0.89)., Conclusions: Patients enrolled in care after introduction of user fees in Nigeria were more likely to be educated or employed, and effectively retained in care after starting ART. However, fees were accompanied by a drastic reduction in new patient enrollment, suggesting that many patients may have been marginalized from HIV care., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.