Objectives: Internationally, pharmacists have shown a pivotal role in alleviating the unprecedented spread of the COVID-19 as they are the first touchpoint to patients. The aim of this study to evaluate the UAE pharmacists’ knowledge about and practice in the global COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted during a period from August 2020 to January 2021. A well-designed standardized English-based questionnaire was developed based on current literature and employed for this study. Findings: The results showed that 45.7% of the participated pharmacists expected to have a good level of knowledge about COVID-19 transmission, symptoms and treatment. Among the participated community pharmacists, around 25.7% educated their patients and 17.0% counseled the public about the current available therapeutic options for managing COVID-19 symptom. Most practiced activities hospital pharmacists (17.4%) was exploring new drug therapies or uses, while few hospital pharmacists (13.0%) participated in the antimicrobial stewardship programs and monitored antibiotic uses for COVID-19 cases and co-infections. Pharmacists at age ≥40 years old and have an experience of ≥10 years in the pharmacy field were more knowledgeable about COVID-19 with higher scores (p <0.001 and p= 0.001; respectively). Conclusions: The study revealed an appropriate average knowledge and practice toward COVID-19 among community and hospital pharmacists.

Objective To investigate the effect of the Medication Management Review (MMR) service on the number of treatment‐related problems (TRPs), patient satisfaction and factors affecting patient satisfaction. Methods This prospective, randomized controlled trial was conducted at community pharmacies in Amman, Jordan. Eligible patients were randomized into active and control groups. A validated Pharmaceutical Care Manual was used for data collection and to identify TRPs for both groups. Identified TRPs for patients in the active group were resolved at the pharmacist level or sent to the patients’ physicians for approval and implementation. Patients in both groups were followed up at 3 months to determine the number of TRPs end of the study. Patients in the active group completed a validated, Likert scale MMR‐satisfaction questionnaire. Factors affecting satisfaction were assessed through multiple regression analysis. Key findings Outpatients with chronic conditions (n = 160) were recruited into the study, with mean age 53.01 ± 15.39; mean number of medical conditions of 3.56 ± 1.15 and 4.73 ± 1.79 mean number of medications. A mean number of 5.37 ± 3.01 TRPs per patient was identified, with no significant difference between both groups (active group n = 82, 5.57 ± 2.68; control n = 78, 5.18 ± 3.36, P = 0.412). At follow‐up, significantly lower number of TRPs were identified for patients in the active group compared to patients in the control group (1.06 ± 1.30 versus 4.53 ± 3.43, P < 0.001). Majority of patients were satisfied/very satisfied with the service (n = 77, 94.5%). A lower number of TRPs at follow‐up (B = −0.438; t = −4.477, P < 0.001) and higher number of TRPs agreed upon and implemented (B = 0.553; t = 6.949, P < 0.001) were significantly associated with higher level of patient satisfaction. Conclusion The MMR has proven to be an effective pharmaceutical care service when delivered in a developing country, such as Jordan. It led to high patient satisfaction, which was significantly associated with lower number of TRPs at follow‐up.

Background: Pharmaceutical care (PC) services have expanded in recent years, resulting in improved patient outcomes. However, such PC services are currently available for free in the majority of Arabic countries. During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, telemedicine is especially beneficial since it allows for continuity of care while allowing for social distancing and minimizing the risk of infection. Objective: To assess the community’s attitude, opinion, and willingness to pay for telemedicine and PC services during COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to create a website provision for telemedicine and PC services. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted, over five months (December 2020– April 2021), among the general population in Arabic countries, excluding pharmacists, physicians, and pharmacy students. Results: A total of 1717 participants were involved, most of them were from Jordan (52.2%) and Iraq (24.8%). Sixty two percent of participants seek pharmacists’ advice whenever they have any medication changes and 45.1% of the participants agreed with the idea of paying pharmacists to decrease medication errors. Interestingly, 89.5% of participants encouraged the idea of creating a website that provides a PC, and 35.5% of them would pay for it. The failure to document the medical information of the patients had most applicants’ agreement as a reason of medical errors (M=4.17/5, SD=0.787). More than three-quarters of participants agreed that creating a database containing the patients’ medical information will reduce medical errors. Conclusion: From a patients’ perspective, this study suggests a large patient need for expanding PC services in Arabic countries and introduces a direct estimate of the monetary value for the PC services to contribute to higher savings. The majority of participants supported the idea of creating a website provision of telemedicine and PC services, and a considerable proportion of them agreed to pay for it.

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The rate of delivery by caesarean sections is increasing globally and, therefore, the incidence of post-caesarean surgical site infections (SSIs) is probably also going to rise. The aim of the present study was to determine the incidence of SSIs after caesarean operations and to explore the factors associated with an increased risk of post-caesarean SSIs. A retrospective study was performed to assess all women who underwent caesarean sections from January 2016 to December 2017 at Al Ain Hospital in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Backward multivariate logistic regression analysis was utilized to specify the variables that were significantly and independently connected with the development of post-caesarean SSIs. In total, 807 women underwent caesarean deliveries at the study site hospital during the two-year study period (January 2016–December 2017). Post-operative SSI was detected in 11 (1.4%) of the women who underwent caesarean operations. Of these, 11 (100%) women were diagnosed post-discharge, within 30 days after the date of the surgery. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that increased gestational age (P = 0.045) was significantly and independently associated with the development of post-caesarean SSI. Increased gestational age was found to be an independent predictor of post-caesarean SSIs. This identified risk factor should inform targeted health care policies to reduce the rate of SSIs.