Background: Diabetes mellitus is a serious condition with potentially devastating complications that affects all age groups worldwide. The purposes of this study are to describe the glycemic control levels and to determine the associated factors of poor glycemic control among type 2 diabetes patients followed in Najran Armed Forces Hospital. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of administrative data from adult patients with diabetes type 2 followed in NAFH clinics. To be included in the pilot study, patients needed to meet the following criteria: 1) Be identified as having diabetes type 2 using algorithms employed by disease management oasis program; 2) Be at least aged 18; 3) Be male or female; 4) Have Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG) and HbA1c measured at least twice during the last year. Both univariate and multivariate approaches of logistic regression were applied to determine factors associated with poor glycemic control. Results: Data from a total of 100 patients were analyzed. There were 22% of patients that achieved glycemic control. The risk factors associated with poor glycemic control were being female, age < 65 years old and those who had not achieved the target total cholesterol. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that diabetic control is suboptimal. This study provides factors that predict poor glycemic control. With this information, subgroups with high risk of disease morbidity were identified. Barriers that prevent these patients from meeting their goals must be explored to improve health outcomes.

Background: Smoking is an established risk factor for many diseases and is one of the most important public health problems worldwide. According to the WHO, medical and paramedical staff can influence positively or negatively the smoking habits of a community. Objective: To explore the predictors of providing smoking cessation advice by medical and paramedical staff. Methods: We have conducted a cross-sectional study from April, 2014 through May, 2014 in Najran Armed Forces Hospital. Data collection was done using an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire. Results: The study included 128 health care professionals. The mean age and standard deviation of the study group was 33.8 ± 8.10 years. The overall prevalence of tobacco use among medical and para-medical staff amounted to 21.1%. The prevalence among male health care providers amounted to 37.5% compared to 9.4% among females. The highest prevalence of tobacco use was among physicians (33.3%) followed by technicians (24.2%) and nurses (11.3%). More than 16% of the medical and paramedical staff didn't at all ask patients about their smoking status and only 40 % of them do that from time to time. Nurses were found to be significant predictors in providing smoking cessation advice to patients compared to physicians (aOR = 5.21, 95% CI: 1.1-25.1). Conclusion: The prevalence rate of smoking habit is still higher among persons who understand the related problems of smoking. Nurses are more active than doctors in providing tobacco cessation advice to their patients.

Objective: We aimed to assess nurses' and doctor's attitude to patient education barriers in Najran Armed Forces Hospital (NAFH). Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional study targeting health care professionals in NAFH. The study was conducted during April 2015. The studied participants were all nurses and doctors who work in NAFH. Anonymous self-administered questionnaires were used to obtain information on sociodemographic background including age, gender, marital status and professional category. The questionnaire collected data on attitudes to barriers of participation in patient education. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the main qualitative and quantitative variables. Chi-square was used to compare percentages. P-value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: A total of 128 nurses (n= 106) and doctors (n= 22) participated in the study. Most of the participants (71.9%) were female. The mean age was 33.8±8.1 years with statistical difference between males and females (36.2±8.8 years among males vs. 32.7 ±7.6 years among females; p=0.03). Participants believed that shortness of time (68.8%), lack of common language and culture for communication with patient (91.6%) and the lack of patient's motivation for learning (85.7%) were the most important causes of insufficiency of patient education. Conclusion: the exploration of health professional attitudes concerning patient education issues is an essential precursor to a debate about how barriers may be overcome, and about the appropriate skill mix and employment arrangements required to manage health care services in the future.

BackgroundTelemedicine has become increasingly important during recent years. Investigating the acceptability of telemedicine among patients is an important first step in adapting and maintaining the use of telemedicine and gaining the advantages of technologies in daily practice. ObjectiveTo measure the acceptability of telemedicine among the patients of primary health care centers (PHCC) using the Service User Technology Acceptability Questionnaire (SUTAQ) at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. MethodsThis cross-sectional study utilized a validated questionnaire in phone call interviews with patients of PHCC clinics. All patients who had a telemedicine visit at PHCC within the past month of data collection were eligible for inclusion. The SUTAQ tool was used to measure the acceptability of telemedicine technology. ResultsOut of 365 people selected for participation, 73.9% responded. The study found that the median age was 40 years old with an interquartile range of 30-52. The majority of participants were female (61.1%) and married (86.7%). The median total SUTAQ score was 4.3, out of a maximum score of 6. The medians for SUTAQ subscales were as follows: the perceived benefits score was 5.4, the privacy and discomfort score was 2.1, the health care personnel concerns score was 3, the satisfaction score was 5.7, and the kit as substitution score was 4.3. Patients who had not previously experienced telemedicine visits showed a higher score in "health care personnel concerns" (P-value=0.009), while first-time patients had a higher score in "kit as substitution" (P-value=0.006). ConclusionThis study provided positive evidence that telemedicine is an acceptable service among PHCC patients. However, PHCC providers should prioritize patient education and awareness about telemedicine to improve utilization. Addressing privacy, discomfort, and personnel concerns could increase patient satisfaction. Future studies investigating telemedicine utilization can help in understanding its impact on clinical outcome.