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Objectives: Influenza vaccination is important for healthcare workers in order to prevent both the illness itself and transmission to patients. Previous studies in Saudi Arabia have revealed low influenza vaccine coverage among healthcare workers due to misconceptions. This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding influenza vaccination among healthcare workers during 2021, addressing the current data gap. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, including 1273 healthcare workers from the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to participants via email. Results: Most participants had an appropriate extent of knowledge, with 37.1% having a high level and 26.6% having a moderate level. Positive attitudes toward the influenza vaccine were observed in 41.2% of participants, and 80.2% demonstrated good vaccine practices. However, the vaccine coverage was 50.8% in the past 12 months. Factors associated with vaccine uptake included previous vaccination, workplace availability, awareness of guidelines, engagement in training programs, type of workplace settings, and having positive attitudes toward the vaccine. The most common reason for not getting vaccinated was the perception of being at low risk, making vaccination unnecessary. Conclusions: Participants exhibited positive knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding influenza vaccination. However, the observed vaccine uptake rate fell below the recommended coverage rate, indicating the presence of a knowledge-behavior gap. Targeted interventions are recommended to improve vaccination uptake among healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia.

Type-2 diabetes (T2DM) is a global epidemic. Among various complications of T2DM, dental caries is one of its preventable complications. This investigation was aimed to study the association between salivary factors and the growth of cariogenic bacteria in the saliva of T2DM patients. We measured the salivary glucose, saliva flow rate and its buffering capacity in T2DM patients (N = 100). Cariogenic bacteria in saliva were detected by using a Chair-side Test Kit. We also analyzed fasting blood glucose (FBG) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in all the subjects. A large number of T2DM patients (78%) had high counts (>105 CFU /ml) of streptococcus mutans in their saliva whereas high counts of lactobacilli were observed only in 42% patients. We observed significant associations between streptococcus mutans load and saliva flow rate, saliva buffering capacity and glycemic control however these variable did not show any significant association with lactobacilli. Hypo-salivation, high salivary glucose and poor glycemic control promoted the growth of streptococcus mutans in the saliva of T2DM patients. In conclusion, salivary factors play important roles in controlling the salivary status of cariogenic bacteria. Thus, an adequate oral health and proper glycemic control could help in abolishing the caries risk and its complications.

Introduction: The Saudi Ministry of Health launched a central appointment mobile application system (Mawid) that is linked to all primary healthcare (PHC) centres in the kingdom. The application allows patients to evaluate the healthcare services they receive. This study aimed to determine the frequency and nature of the complaints of patients visiting PHC centres through the Mawid application. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted using 3-month secondary data from the Mawid application. The study included 3134 comments from 380,493 patients who visited 38 PHC centres in Riyadh and responded to the Mawid application evaluation questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS version 21. Results: Approximately 59.1% of the patients’ comments were negative (patients’ complaints); only 19%, positive; 8.40%, mixed; and 13.6%, unrelated. The patients’ complaints (n=2969) were obtained from 380,493 patients within 3 months, yielding a complaint rate of 2.6 per 1000 attendances per month. The majority of the complaints (79.3%) were from patients visiting nonspecialised PHC centres. Approximately 59.1% of the complaints fell under the management domain; 23.6%, patient–staff relationship domain; and only 17.2%, clinical domain. Conclusion: Management and interpersonal problems constituted the main patients’ complaints in the PHC centres in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, future studies must clarify the reasons contributing to these complaints. Increasing the number of physicians, providing staff training and continuous auditing are mandatory to improve patients’ experiences in PHC centres.