Background:Recent studies have revealed that pharmacists have interest in conducting research. However, lack of confidence is a major barrier.Objective:This study evaluated pharmacists’ self-perceived competence and confidence to plan and conduct health-related research.Method:This cross sectional study was conducted during the 89th Annual National Conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria in November 2016. An adapted questionnaire was validated and administered to 200 pharmacist delegates during the conference.Result:Overall, 127 questionnaires were included in the analysis. At least 80% of the pharmacists had previous health-related research experience. Pharmacist’s competence and confidence scores were lowest for research skills such as: using software for statistical analysis, choosing and applying appropriate inferential statistical test and method, and outlining detailed statistical plan to be used in data analysis. Highest competence and confidence scores were observed for conception of research idea, literature search and critical appraisal of literature. Pharmacists with previous research experience had higher competence and confidence scores than those with no previous research experience (p<0.05). The only predictor of moderate-to-extreme self-competence and confidence was having at least one journal article publication during the last 5 years.Conclusion:Nigerian pharmacists indicated interest to participate in health-related research. However, self-competence and confidence to plan and conduct research were low. This was particularly so for skills related to statistical analysis. Training programs and building of Pharmacy Practice Research Network are recommended to enhance pharmacist’s research capacity.

Background Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) has a wide spectrum of illnesses depending on the progression of the disease and comorbid conditions. However, there is an inadequacy of investigations regarding clinical, laboratory, risk factor and prognostic data on CPA. The current study is aimed to consider the clinical manifestations, risk factors and outcomes of CPA. Methodology Retrospective records of all patients with a confirmed diagnosis of CPA who sought treatment at Gulab Devi Chest Hospital Lahore, Pakistan from January 2017 to December 2019 were evaluated. Data regarding demographics, clinical manifestations, comorbidities, radiographic and microbiological findings, length of hospital stay (LOS) and intensive care unit (ICU) admission was collected and analyzed to identify the factors associated with mortality. The independent factors associated with mortality were also identified by appropriate analyses. Results A total of 218 CPA patients were included in this study. The mean age was 45.75 ± 6.26 years. Of these, 160 (73.4%) were male, and 65 (29.8%) had diabetes. The mean LOS was 18.5 ± 10.9 days. The most common type of CPA was simple aspergilloma (56%) followed by chronic cavitary pulmonary aspergillosis (CCPA) (31.2%). About one half of the patients had a history of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and treatment response rates were low in patients with active TB. The overall mortality rate was 27.1%. ICU admission was required for 78 (35.8%) patients. Diabetes mellitus (DM), hematological malignancies and chronic kidney disease (CKD) were the common underlying conditions predicting a poor outcome. Mean LOS, hematological malignancies, consolidation and ICU admission were identified as the independent factors leading to mortality. Conclusions CPA had a significant association with TB in the majority of cases. Treatment response rates in cases with active TB were comparatively low. Cases with high mean LOS, hematological malignancies, consolidation, ICU admission, CKD and DM experienced poor outcomes. High mean LOS, hematological malignancies, consolidation and ICU stay were identified as independent risk factors for mortality. Future large prospective studies, involving aspergillus specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody testing, are required for a better understanding of CPA in Pakistan.

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Although hospitals' management currently observe all general rules set by the government nevertheless, there are certain short comings on the part of management, as it lacks comliance with the requirement of Shari'ah in respects of selection of medicine, the relations between the patients and the doctors of differnt gender, and the lack of the knowledge of Shari'ah's ruling pertainning to the treatment by staffs and the patients in the hospital. These three aspects should be given serious attention and be handled wisely so as to maintain and preserve Malaysia's status as a majority Muslim country. As regards the selection of the medicine or pharmaceutical material, there is a lingerring doubt concerning the status of the medicine given to patient whether it is halal (permissible) or haram (impermissible). For instance, the medicine for allergy Red Tab Claritin and Ultratab Allergy Tablet Benadryl contain materials that originate from pig and cow. Meanwhile, there are numerous complaints from female patients especially, during labour hours in the delivery hall handaled by male doctors. Some of them don't feel easy and confortable with the birth procedure being conducted by male doctors. Therefore, to cater for the need of the Muslim community constituting the majority of Malaysia's population, it is appropriate to establish a committee tasked with making sure that the hospitals operate in accordance with the requirement of the Shari'ah. Therefore, this paper attempts to explore the concept of maslahah from the perspective of Islamic law and its instrumental role in the establishment of Shari'ah Supervisory Committee in hospitals. This paper uses both document analysis and interview methods. The findings of this study show that maslahah can play an instrumental role in establishing Shari'ah Supervisory Committee in the hospital from the aspects of enhancement of general public interest of necessity category.

To assess the adherence of physicians involved in the management of diabetes mellitus with or without co-morbidities with reference to Clinical Practice Guideline 2009 given by Ministry of Health Malaysia in the tertiary care hospital, Pinang General Hospital Malaysia. Cross-sectional study was done at tertiary care hospital, Penang, Malaysia. The total 51 physicians and 1020 patient’s prescriptions written by same physicians were taken from the record of the Penang General Hospital (20 prescriptions for each enrolled physician). All 1020 patients were suffering from diabetes mellitus with or without co-morbidities. These patients were recruited from the different wards of the Penang General Hospital. Depending on the recommendations of CPG 2009 the prescriptions of patients were divided into adherent and non-adherent prescriptions. The overall good level of physician adherence was seen with respect to the recommendations of CPG 2009 in all prescriptions. A statistically significant negative association (?= 0.094, p-value=0.003) was observed between diabetes mellitus control and co-morbidities. CPG adherent had statistically weak negative association (?= -0.081, p-value=0.010) with patients having co-morbidities. No statistically significant association was observed between CPG adherence and any other co-morbidity. The study explored the several features of prescription pattern of physicians involved in the management of diabetes mellitus with or without co-morbidities and recognized the need for improvement in their prescription pattern for treating the diabetes mellitus.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/icpj.v3i8.19405 International Current Pharmaceutical Journal, July 2014, 3(8): 309-312