Browsing by Author "Bahnassy, Ahmad"

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The major medical ethical challenges facing the public and healthcare providers in Saudi Arabia
(2012) Alkabba, Abdulaziz; Hussein, Ghaiath; Albar, Adnan; Bahnassy, Ahmad; Qadi, Mahdi
Background: Despite the relatively high expenditure on healthcare in Saudi Arabia, its health system remains highly centralized in the main cities with its primary focus on secondary and tertiary care rather than primary care. This has led to numerous ethical challenges for the healthcare providers. This article reports the results of a study conducted with a panel of practitioners, and non-clinicians, in Saudi Arabia, in order to identify the top ten ethical challenges for healthcare providers, patients, and their families. Materials and Methods: The study design was a cross-sectional, descriptive, and qualitative one. The participants were asked the question: "What top ten ethical challenges are Saudis likely to face in health care?" The participants were asked to rank the top ten ethical challenges throughout a modified Delphi process, using a ranking Scale. A consensus was reached after three rounds of questions and an experts' meeting. Results: The major 10 ethical issues, as perceived by the participants in order of their importance, were: (1) Patients' Rights, (2) Equity of resources, (3) Confidentiality of the patients, (4) Patient Safety, (5) Conflict of Interests, (6) Ethics of privatization, (7) Informed Consent, (8) Dealing with the opposite sex, (9) Beginning and end of life, and (10) Healthcare team ethics. Conclusion: Although many of the challenges listed by the participants have received significant public and specialized attention worldwide, scant attention has been paid to these top challenges in Saudi Arabia. We propose several possible steps to help address these key challenges.
Predictive factors and incidence of complications in apparently healthy full term infants of diabetic mothers
(1999) Yaseen, Hakam; Al-Najashi, Suleiman; Adel, Ashraf; Bahnassy, Ahmad; Al-Umran, Khalid; Al-Faraidy, Abdulatif
Aim: To determine the incidence of different complications of the apparently healthy full-term infants of diabetic mothers (IDMs) and whether these complications could be predicted early. Methods: A prospective study was performed in the Nursery Unit of King Fahd Hospital of the University in Al-Khobar over an 18-month period. Eligible neonates were those full-term IDMs who were asymptomatic at birth, with birth weight ≥ 2000 g and whose mothers had gestational or pregestational diabetes. AUDMs were routinely observed for at least 2 days. A complete blood count, glucose, bilirubin and calcium serum levels were monitored. The morbidity study group included all IDMs who experienced complications requiring treatment or observation for > 48 hours. Results: One hundred and eighty eight infants with a birth-weight of 3411 ΁ 616 g and with gestational age of 38.5 ΁ 1.2 weeks were enrolled in the study. Asymptomatic hypoglycemia (31%) was mostly mild and transient. The rate of other complications such as hypocalcemia (4%), polycythemia (13%), hyperbilirubinemia (18%), intrauterine growth retardation (2%) with 30% rate for large gestational age. Using a logistic regression model; maternal insulin therapy, poor diabetic control, birth asphyxia, early neonatal hypoglycemia and polycythemia were found to be highly predictive of morbidity with an odd ratio of 2.41, 2.91, 9.65, 3.88 and 3.74 respectively. Conclusion: Complications of apparently healthy IDMs appear to be very mild and transient. These were found to be strongly associated with specific perinatal events.
Quality of life in a sample of hypertensive patients attending primary health care facilities in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia
(2002) Al-Ghamdi, Mohammed; Taha, Attia; Bahnassy, Ahmad; Khalil, Mohammed
Background: Hypertension is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions in Saudi Arabia. It is the leading risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and a major reason for visits to clinic and prescription of medications. Inspite of this, the degree of its control is not to the optimum. This could be due to its impact on patients' quality of life (QOL). Impaired physical and psychological well-being may lead to non-compliance or even the withdrawal of treatment . The aim of this study was to assess QOL of hypertensive patients registered in Al-Khobar. Methods: The QOL of hypertensive patients was compared with QOL of a control group. A total of 404 subjects (202 cases and 202 controls) were interviewed. The cases and controls were matched for age and sex. Patients' self-assessment of QOL was measured with an Arabic version of SF-36, a 36-item Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire encompassing two main dimensions, physical and mental. Results: The QOL of hypertensive patients was substantially impaired in comparison to the control group. The mean scores for the physical component summary scale (PCS) were 39.3 and 50.8 for cases and controls respectively. The mean scores for the mental component summary scale (MCS) were 43.7 and 50.8 for cases and controls respectively. The burden of hypertension was concentrated in the physical dimension of health. Older age, female gender, unmarried patients, patients with hypertension complications, comorbid DM, use of Aldomet and shorter duration of hypertension were independently related to poorer QOL. The variability of the two summary measures explained by selected demographic and clinical characteristics was 24.3% and 10% for the PCS and MCS respectively. Conclusions and recommendations: The QOL of hypertensive patients was substantially impaired in comparison to the control group. Notably, the total explained variation of QOL by the selected characteristics was small, suggesting that the determinants of QOL are multi-factorial. Further research to explore the determinants and indices of QOL in hypertensive patients is warranted. From a clinical perspective, QOL should be considered in the monitoring of hypertensive patients to estimate the burden of hypertension and monitor their outcome.