Hundreds of human mpox cases are spreading outside of Western and Central Africa, which could be considered a significant world health problem. In this study, we sought to assess public knowledge and perceptions of human mpox. The study was a cross-sectional survey conducted in Jordan in September–October 2022. All participants were approached through social media portals. A total of 1195 participants agreed to participate in this study. The participants showed a low median knowledge score about human mpox (4.0 out of 15.0, IQR = 5.0), with only 27.9% of the participants (n = 334) correctly identifying that human mpox is not a bacterial disease, and around half of them (n = 589, 49.3%) knowing that this disease affects both genders. Higher monthly income (≥400 JD/month) was significantly associated with better knowledge about the disease. Social media was the most comprehensive source of information about mpox (n = 1018, 85.2%). Finally, 57.3% of the participants (n = 685) believed that mpox would affect social and economic life, like the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings highlight the urgent need for systematic strategies that should be promoted to increase public knowledge of mpox, which will be critical in improving the capacity to respond to the disease.

Objectives: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Jordan university hospital to evaluate the impact of microbial culture data and sensitivity results on optimizing UTI treatment.Methods: All positive urine cultures requested for adult patients (≥18 years) admitted to Jordan University Hospital (JUH) within the period from January 2019–July 2021 were evaluated. The antibiotics prescribed before and after culture data and sensitivity results were compared to evaluate the impact of these diagnostic measures on optimizing UTI treatment.Results: During the study period, 2400 urine cultures revealed positive results. Among those patients, 1,600 (66.7%) were discharged before the availability of culture results and excluded. Of the remaining 800 patients, 701 patients (87.6%) received empiric treatment. After culture and sensitivity results were available, overall, 84 (10.5%) patients had optimization (improvement) in their UTI management after culture results were known, while 6 (0.8%) patients had a worsening in their treatments. Based on the culture results, we found that only 12.4% of patients were appropriately treated before and after the culture results. Moreover, our results revealed that 31.9% were inappropriately treated for their UTIs before and after culture results.Conclusion: This study revealed an alarmingly high rate of inappropriate treatment of UTIs despite the availability of urine culture and sensitivity data, and that culture results were not used to optimize treatment strategies for UTI. This practice can potentially result in poor health-related outcomes and adversely affects efforts to battle AMR. Multifaceted strategies must be implemented to help clinicians follow the best current evidence and current guidelines in their selection of antibiotics for the management of UTIs.

ObjectivesThe main goal of the current study was to investigate pharmacists' perception of home delivery of medications service in Jordan and their willingness to use the service.MethodThis cross-sectional observational study was conducted between March and April 2022. The study targeted community pharmacists working at different community pharmacies across Jordan. The study questionnaire was distributed through Facebook to target Jordanian community pharmacists' groups.ResultsThree hundred and twenty-four community pharmacists participated in the study, 75% (n = 244) of pharmacists reported being willing to use the home delivery and 274 (84.6%) thought it increases the efficiency of their community pharmacies' services. Only 129 (39.8%) pharmacists agreed or strongly agreed that unlike in-store service, home delivery of medications is suitable only for OTC but not for prescriptions medications Nearly half the number of participating pharmacists (n = 153, 47.2%) believe that the service is suitable for refill prescriptions but not for new prescriptions. Pharmacists believe that the foremost pros of the service were to continue life-saving medical treatment (n = 249, 76.9%), serve sick, elderly, and disabled patients (n = 241, 74.4%), and decrease congestion at health facilities (n = 228, 70.4%). On the other hand, the cons of this service, as perceived by pharmacists included failing to build a professional relationship with patients (n = 203, 62.7%), and the contribution to communication errors (n = 147, 45.4%). Logistic regression showed that pharmacists who serve 50 patients or more per day were more willing to use the service than those serving less than 50 patients per day (OR = 2.058, P = 0.032).ConclusionThe majority of participating pharmacists in this study were willing to use the service at their community pharmacies, especially those serving a large number of patients per day which may indicate the potential of this service in relieving the pressure on community pharmacies and allowing them to serve more patients efficiently.

Objectives In recent years, the responsibilities of community pharmacists have changed significantly. This study aimed to assess Jordanian public satisfaction with community pharmacists’ role as healthcare providers and to evaluate factors affecting their satisfaction level. Methods This cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted among the Jordanian public using a convenience sampling approach between May 2022 and June 2022. A link to the self-administered questionnaire was distributed via different social media platforms to be filled by participants willing to participate to evaluate their views and satisfaction of community pharmacists’ role as healthcare providers. Key findings In this study, 710 participants agreed to participate in this study. The participants had a median age of 36.0 years and 62.3% of them were female. The most frequent reason for visiting any community pharmacy was purchasing prescription medications (83.1%). The location of the pharmacy was the most selected factor influencing the choice of a particular community pharmacy by the study participants (89.3%). Results showed that respondents had an acceptable satisfaction score about pharmacists’ behaviours and roles (median score of 32.0 out of 40.0). More than 80% of the participants were satisfied with the language used by the pharmacist in discussing drug-related matters (84.9%), with the privacy maintained by the pharmacist while dealing with them (83.1%), with pharmacists’ professionalism in dealing with patients (82.3%), and with the positive relationship between pharmacists and patients (81.0%). Respondents with a higher level of education showed more satisfaction towards pharmacists’ services compared to those with lower levels of education (Beta = 0.088, P = 0.031). Conclusions This study demonstrated an acceptable general satisfaction of community pharmacists while conducting their job, yet their role still mainly involves dispensing prescriptions.

This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted at Jordan University Hospital (JUH) to evaluate the appropriateness of Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) empiric treatment based on microbial culture data and susceptibility testing. All urine cultures requested for adult patients (≥18 years) admitted to JUH within the period from January 2019–July 2021 were reviewed and only those cultures with positive episodes of infection were considered. In this study, 6950 urine culture episodes were screened; among them, 34.5% (n = 2400) revealed positive results. Among those patients with positive culture episodes, 1600 patients (66.7%) were discharged before the availability of culture results and were excluded. Of the remaining eligible 800 patients, 701 (87.6%) received empiric treatment. In 26.8% of the eligible cases (n = 214), the prescribed empiric agents failed to have appropriate coverage of the identified pathogens, and in 14.6% of the cases (n = 117) the identified microorganisms were reported as resistant to the prescribed empiric agents. Furthermore, only 13.4% of the patients (n = 107) were appropriately treated for their UTI with empiric antibacterial agents. We were not able to judge the appropriateness of UTI treatment for one third (n = 263, 32.9%) of the patients, because they did not have susceptibility reports performed. This study revealed an alarmingly high rate of inappropriate treatment of UTIs, which encourages the emergence of bacterial resistance and affects health-related outcomes negatively. Therefore, antimicrobial stewardship programs must be applied to optimize antibiotic consumption in hospital settings.