Evaluation of artificial intelligence-generated drug therapy communication skill competencies in medical education.

Aims: This study compared three artificial intelligence (AI) platforms' potential to identify drug therapy communication competencies expected of a graduating medical doctor.

Methods: We presented three AI platforms, namely, Poe Assistant©, ChatGPT© and Google Bard©, with structured queries to generate communication skill competencies and case scenarios appropriate for graduating medical doctors. These case scenarios comprised 15 prototypical medical conditions that required drug prescriptions.

Artificial intelligence and medical education: application in classroom instruction and student assessment using a pharmacology & therapeutics case study.

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are designed to create or generate content from their trained parameters using an online conversational interface. AI has opened new avenues in redefining the role boundaries of teachers and learners and has the potential to impact the teaching-learning process.

Methods: In this descriptive proof-of- concept cross-sectional study we have explored the application of three generative AI tools on drug treatment of hypertension theme to generate: (1) specific learning outcomes (SLOs); (2) test items (MCQs- A type and case cluster; SAQs; OSPE); (3) test standard-setting parameters for medical students.

Emotional intelligence weakly predicts academic success in medical programs: a multilevel meta-analysis and systematic review.

Background: Emotional intelligence (EI) is a predictive factor of academic success in undergraduate Doctor of Medicine (MD) programs. Although some research suggests a positive association between EI and academic success in MD programs, other research reports neither an association nor a negative correlation between the two variables. The current study aimed to resolve these contradictory findings by conducting a systematic review and a meta-analysis using research from 2005 to 2022.

Drug treatment and prevention of malaria in pregnancy: a critical review of the guidelines.

Background: Malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum in pregnancy can result in adverse maternal and fetal sequelae. This review evaluated the adherence of the national guidelines drawn from World Health Organization (WHO) regions, Africa, Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and Western Pacific, to the WHO recommendations on drug treatment and prevention of chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria in pregnant women.

Methods: Thirty-five updated national guidelines and the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), available in English language, were reviewed.

Prevalence of drugs with constipation-inducing potential and laxatives in community-dwelling older adults in Bahrain: therapeutic implications.

Objectives: This study evaluated the prevalence of prescribing drugs with constipation-inducing potential and the prophylactic use of laxatives in community-dwelling older adults.

Method: An audit of outpatient prescriptions ordered for older adults aged ≥65 years with one or more chronic morbidities in 24 governmental primary healthcare centres in Bahrain. The prescriptions were collected by pharmacist-in-charge of each health centre between December 2015 and June 2016.

Antihypertensive Prescribing Pattern in Older Adults: Implications of Age and the Use of Dual Single-Pill Combinations.

Introduction: Hypertension, if not appropriately treated, is associated with life-threatening complications.

Aims: This study evaluated antihypertensive prescribing patterns in older adults (≥ 65 years) versus young adults based on the current guidelines with an emphasis on the use of dual single-pill combinations (SPCs).

Methods: A nationwide audit of 8746 primary care prescriptions of hypertensive patients with comorbidities in Bahrain was performed.

Pharmacology and therapeutics resource session attendance and academic performance of pre-clerkship medical students in problem-based learning curricula.

Background: The relationship between large-group classroom attendance by students and test achievement in problem-based learning (PBL) curricula is unclear. This study examined the correlation between attendance at resource sessions (hybrid lectures in the PBL curriculum) and test scores achieved in pharmacology and determined whether the score achieved was related to student gender.

Methods: A cross-sectional observational study over one academic year of 1404 pre-clerkship medical students was performed.

Drugs for treating severe hypertension in pregnancy: a network meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis of randomized clinical trials.

Aims: Several antihypertensive drugs are used in the treatment of severe hypertension in pregnancy. The present study is a network meta-analysis comparing the efficacy and safety of these drugs.

Methods: Electronic databases were searched for randomized clinical trials comparing drugs used in the treatment of severe hypertension in pregnancy.

Pharmacological interventions for premature ejaculation: a mixed-treatment comparison network meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.

Premature ejaculation (PE) is the most common sexual dysfunction in men. The present study is a network meta-analysis of drugs used for treating PE. Electronic databases were searched for randomized controlled trials comparing medical interventions with either placebo or with other active drugs in patients with PE.

Drug information, misinformation, and disinformation on social media: a content analysis study.

Dissemination of misleading drug information through social media can be detrimental to the health of the public. This study, carried out in Bahrain, evaluated the truthfulness of 22 social media claims about drugs (72.7%), dietary supplements (22.

Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing in Older Adults with Hypertension or Diabetes Mellitus and Hypertension in a Primary Care Setting in Bahrain.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to evaluate: (1) the prevalence and types of potentially inappropriate prescribing in older adults with hypertension or diabetes mellitus and hypertension, and (2) whether or not differences in the training of primary care physicians were associated with potentially inappropriate prescribing.

Materials And Methods: Primary care prescriptions issued by family physicians and general practitioners were audited using Screening Tool of Older Persons' Prescriptions criteria (version 1), with 18 out of 65 applicable criteria. Descriptive statistics were used to test the difference between proportions, and two-tailed t test was used for continuous variables.

Prescription audit of NSAIDs and gastroprotective strategy in elderly in primary care.

Background: The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs) is deemed a major risk factor for peptic ulcer disease in elderly population that requires concomitant therapy with gastroprotective agents (GPAs).

Objective: This study evaluated the rational prescribing of NSAIDs and GPAs, and extent of adherence to the guideline recommendations in primary care.

Methods: Nationwide audit of prescriptions issued to elderly patients (≥65 years) with hypertension or diabetic hypertension in primary care.

Pain frequency, severity and QT dispersion in adult patients with sickle cell anemia: correlation with inflammatory markers.

Background: Inflammatory markers are increased during vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) in adult patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA), but this is not clear in clinical steady state.

Aim: The present study aims to establish the frequency and intensity of bone pain episodes in adult patients with SCA in clinical steady state and to determine the correlation between different inflammatory markers, other variables including QT dispersion (QTd) and pain frequency and intensity in SCA.

Patients And Methods: Patients were classified into two groups: group 1, those with more than three hospital admissions in the last 6 months, and group 2, those with no hospital admission.

Understanding Preclerkship Medical Students' Poor Performance in Prescription Writing.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore reasons for poor performance in prescription writing stations of the objective structured practical examination (OSPE) and absenteeism in prescription writing sessions among preclerkship medical students at the Arabian Gulf University (AGU) in Manama, Bahrain.

Methods: This descriptive study was carried out between September 2014 and June 2015 among 157 preclerkship medical students at AGU. Data were collected using focus group discussions and a questionnaire with closed- and open-ended items.

Competence of medical students in communicating drug therapy: Value of role-play demonstrations.

Objectives: This study used role-play demonstrations to train medical students to communicate drug therapy and evaluated the perceptions on this instructional approach.

Materials And Methods: The second-year medical students who attended a prescription writing session (n = 133), participated in this study. Prescription communication was introduced by using role-play demonstrations.

Lecturing skills as predictors of tutoring skills in a problem-based medical curriculum.

Purpose: Recruitment of tutors to work in problem-based learning (PBL) programs is challenging, especially in that most of them are graduated from discipline-based programs. Therefore, this study aims at examining whether lecturing skills of faculty could predict their PBL tutoring skills.

Methods: This study included evaluation of faculty (n=69) who participated in both tutoring and lecturing within particular PBL units at the College of Medicine and Medical Sciences (CMMS), Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain.

Prescription Writing in Small Groups as a Clinical Pharmacology Educational Intervention: Perceptions of Preclerkship Medical Students.

Medical students do not perform well in writing prescriptions, and the 3 variables-learner, teacher, and instructional method-are held responsible to various degrees. The objective of this clinical pharmacology educational intervention was to improve medical students' perceptions, motivation, and participation in prescription-writing sessions. The study participants were second-year medical students of the College of Medicine and Medical Sciences of the Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain.

Antihypertensive Drugs and Male Sexual Dysfunction: A Review of Adult Hypertension Guideline Recommendations.

Background: Published clinical practice guidelines have addressed antihypertensive therapy and sexual dysfunction (SD) in many different ways.

Objective: In this systematic review, we evaluated guidelines that address antihypertensive drug-associated SD, guideline recommendations, and recent guideline trends.

Methods: Thirty sets of guidelines for hypertension management in adults that had been published in the English language since 2000 were reviewed.

Medical Students' Perceptions of Peer Assessment in a Problem-based Learning Curriculum.

Objectives: Peer assessment (PA) is believed to support learning and help students develop both professionally and personally. The aim of this study was to examine medical students' perceptions of intragroup PA in a problem-based learning (PBL) setting.

Methods: This study was carried out between September and November 2014 and involved six random groups of fourth-year undergraduate medical students (n = 60) enrolled at the Arabian Gulf University in Manama, Bahrain.

Effective use of real-life events as tools for teaching-learning clinical pharmacology in a problem-based learning curriculum.

Aim: This paper describes how in a problem-based learning (PBL) medical curriculum, having identified the learning outcomes, problems can be developed from real-life events for teaching-learning clinical pharmacology topics for which PBL cases might be inadequate. Such problems can be very interesting and educational.

Methodology: Using the story of the development and withdrawal of rofecoxib (Vioxx(®)), we developed a problem for undergraduate medical students to address important issues related to clinical pharmacology and therapeutics such as new drug development, preclinical testing, clinical trials, adverse drug reactions, professionalism, and critical appraisal of literature.

Predictors of abnormal bone mass density in adult patients with homozygous sickle-cell disease.

Background: Adult patients with sickle-cell disease (SCD) often have multiple bone compactions causing tissue hypoxia and osteonecrosis. The impact on bone abnormalities lesion detected by bone mass density is not well defined.

Aim: The study is a cross sectional, perspective was designed to assess the prevalence of abnormal BMD in adult Bahraini patients with SCD and to assess the predictive risk of different metabolic variables such as serum level of vitamin D3, testosterone, and parathyroid hormone in addition to lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), hemoglobin (Hb), and reticulocyte count for the development of abnormal bone density on dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan.

Temporal changes in antihypertensive prescribing trend in Bahrain over a decade: emerging issues in iatrogenic sexual dysfunction.

Objective: To elucidate temporality of antihypertensive drug prescribing trends over a decade in terms of emerging views on iatrogenic sexual dysfunctions (SD).

Methods: The antihypertensive prescribing trend in 2007 was compared with baseline data collected in 1998 using prescription audit.

Results: Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors were deemed first and second ranked antihypertensives for patients with diabetic hypertension and hypertension in 2007, respectively.