Browsing by Author "Al-Almaie, Sameeh"
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Item Ability of adult patients to predict absence or presence of fever in an emergency department triage clinic(1999) Al-Almaie, Sameehntroduction: Fever is the most appreciated manifestation of disease which usually raises high therapeutic expectations. Patients seek medical advice because they think they are sick and feverish. If they feel that they are sick but not feverish, they may not seek medical advice. Subjective fever may also be an important clue to further evaluation of the patient. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of adult patients to predict absence or presence of fever in Emergency Department triage clinic. Methods: A prospective study of 1241 ambulatory adult patients (above 12 years of age) was carried out over a three-week period. All patients were asked whether or not they had fever or felt they had fever or were running a temperature before oral temperature was taken with an IVAC digital machine. Two sets of temperature readings were taken to define fever as 37.8 o C or greater, and 38.0 o C or greater. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of detecting fever by subjective means was 89.6% and 94.5% for male and 90.0% and 94.8% for female. The accuracy rates were 93.9% and 94.6% respectively. The prevalence of objective fever was 8.7% yielding general positive and negative predictive values of 80.9% and 98.9% with an accuracy rate of 94.2%. Conclusion: The reliability of adult patients attending triage clinic in assessing subjective fever was found to be good. Four out of five of our patients who believed they had a fever were actually found to have an objective temperature increase (38.0 o C or greater). This means that medical staff should take a complaint of subjective fever in our population more seriously.Item Evidence based medicine: An overview(2003) Al-Almaie, Sameeh; Al-Baghli, NadiraEvidence based medicine (EBM) considered one of the most important developments in the practice of medicine in recent years, has evolved as a tool for improving the quality of health care. Several studies have shown EBM to be safe and cost-effective. Physicians have welcomed EBM and shown a positive attitude toward it and have expressed desire to learn more about it. This is consistent in most studies done in different countries. However, some studies found considerable misunderstanding about terms and websites used in EBM. The major barriers to the practice of EBM perceived by physician in different studies include insufficient time and evidence, patients' preference and financial constraints. Training has been found to be conducive to the implementation and promotion of EBM. Some Arab countries are already implementing EBM and plan to include it in the undergraduate curriculum. In Saudi Arabia EBM was introduced in the late 90's and a National EBM Advisory Board was formed.Item Item A new era for the Journal of Family and Community Medicine(2012) Al-Almaie, SameehAbstract Not Available(Editorial)Item Nigella sativa: A potential natural protective agent against cardiac dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(2015) Bamosa, Abdullah; Kaatabi, Huda; Badar, Ahmed; Al-Khadra, Akram; Al Elq, Abdulmohsen; Abou-Hozaifa, Bodour; Lebda, Fatma; Al-Almaie, SameehObjectives: To study the effect of Nigella sativa supplementation on cardiac functions in Type 2 diabetic patients treated with oral hypoglycemic agents. Background: Diabetes mellitus is associated with a high risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. A number of reported beneficial effects of N. sativa on cardiovascular function were the inspiration for this study. Materials and Methods: Sixty patients with uncontrolled diabetes (hemoglobin A 1c [HbA 1c ] >7%) and with no known cardiovascular complications were recruited from the outpatient diabetes clinic. They were assigned, by convenience, to two groups; the control group received activated charcoal as placebo while the test group received 2 g/day of powdered N. sativa for 1-year. All patients continued with their standard oral hypoglycemic agents. Echocardiography was used to evaluate the diastolic function, systolic function, and left ventricular mass (LVM) before the intervention and after 6 and 12 months of the treatment. Results: HbA 1c decreased significantly in the N. sativa group but did not change in the control group. Echocardiographic assessment in the control group showed impairment in diastolic function after 12 months, but there were no significant changes in fractional shortening (FS) or ejection fraction (EF). Furthermore, left ventricular (LV) dimensions at diastole and systole, LVM, and LVM index were significantly increased. In N. sativa group, no significant changes were found in diastolic function or LVM. LV dimension at systole was decreased while FS and EF were significantly increased after 6 and 12 months. Conclusion: N. sativa supplementation may protect the hearts of type 2 diabetic patients from diastolic dysfunction while improving LV systolic function.Item