Search

Objective:  Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on knowledge, attitude, and practices toward antenatal care among antenatal women., Design:  Prospective observational study., Method: After taking written and informed consent, 3000 term/near-term SARS CoV2-negative antenatal women admitted to the hospital for emergency were enrolled; excluding those in advance labour or critically ill. An interview was conducted and a knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) questionnaire was filled out based on verbatim answers. All women were then given individualized antenatal and postnatal care as per hospital protocols and discharged accordingly. The data obtained during the study was recorded on predesigned case proforma and analysed at the end of the study using the SPSS v. 23 software, after the application of appropriate statistical tests., Main Result: All women knew about the pandemic and its signs and symptoms along with precautions to be taken. Most of the women 2652 (88.4%) thought that they were at increased risk of contracting an infection during pregnancy and 2208 (73.6%) thought that coronavirus can harm the baby and will increase the risk of pregnancy. Awareness of nearby health facilities providing antenatal care was in 71.2% and 94% were aware of functional outpatient department services but only 1.4% were aware of teleconsultation services. About 2094 women have had any ANC visits. All of them knew that taking iron, Ca and vitamin supplements and getting an ultrasound and investigations were necessary but only 1524 (50.8%) took these supplements regularly, 1752 (58.4%) got their ultrasound done and 41.6% got investigations done. Two thousand four hundred thirty-six (81.2%) women had this fear that they would contract COVID-19 infection during their visit to the hospital. All the respondents of our study wanted to have hospital delivery and knew that it was necessary to have ANC registration and none of them wanted to have home delivery., Conclusion: Mastering correct knowledge will foster a positive attitude among antenatal women and will not only prevent disease transmission but also improve pregnancy outcomes., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2024, Marwah et al.)

Background: Opioids are commonly prescribed medications for pain management with high risks associated with chronic use. The inherent risk associated with opioids is worsened by variable prescribing practices used by prescribers. In the midst of the "opioid epidemic," perceptions of opioid prescription among healthcare practitioners have not been widely investigated., Objective: This study aimed to explore the opinions, experiences, and habits of prescribers as well as other healthcare personnel involved in the administration of opioids at an academic medical center., Methods: Questions were shared through an online survey format, answerable in Likert scale scores from 1 to 5 , and categorized into three domains; prescribing habits/management, education, and risk stratification., Results: A total of 638 survey responses were collected comprising 130 physicians (21%), 44 residents and fellows (6.9%), 53 physician assistants and nurse practitioners (8.31%), 18 pharmacists (2.82%), 85 medical students (13.32%), and 308 nurses (48.28%). Collected responses revealed a weak consensus on prescribing practices and a lack of evidence-based opioid management such as low utilization of multidisciplinary clinics and unfamiliarity with the WHO analgesic ladder across all specialties. The survey also indicated a lack of education regarding the prescribing of opioids across all specialties although pharmacists reported obtaining the most. Lastly, the use of risk stratification tools such as prescription drug monitoring programs and urine drug testing were underutilized amongst practitioners., Conclusion: Strengthening practitioners' opioid management abilities with evidence-based interventions for each aforementioned domain may aid in the fight against the opioid epidemic., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2022, Prempreet et al.)