The Libyan journal of medicine
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We aim to study the characteristics and outcomes of patients with a Do-Not-Attempt Resuscitation and to determine its impact on the Cost of In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. A retrospective study of all adult patients admitted to the hospital from June 2021 to May 2022 who had a Do-Not-Resuscitate order. We abstracted patients' socio-demographics, physiologic parameters, primary diagnosis, and comorbidities from the electronic medical records. ⋯ Without a DNR policy, an additional 492 patients with cardiac arrest would have had CPR, resulting in an IHCA rate of 22.3 per 1000 hospital admissions. Most DNR patients in our setting had sepsis complicated by multiple comorbidities. The DNR policy reduced our IHCA incidence by 76% and prevented unnecessary post-resuscitation ICU care.
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Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a multidrug-resistant bacterium capable of forming biofilms. This study aimed to assess resistance of clinical isolates from Libyan hospitals to antipseudomonal antibiotics, the prevalence of selected extended-spectrum β-lactamases and carbapenemase genes among these isolates, and the microorganisms' capacity for alginate and biofilm production. Forty-five isolates were collected from four hospitals in Benghazi and Derna, Libya. ⋯ The dissemination of resistant genes in P. aeruginosa, particularly carbapenemases, is of great concern. This issue is compounded by the bacteria's biofilm-forming capability. Urgent intervention and continuous surveillance are imperative to prevent further deterioration and the catastrophic spread of resistance among these formidable bacteria.
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Electronic Health Records (EHR) have been adopted to improve the quality of care. Despite the growing use of health information technology, nursing documentation remains a challenge. In Tunisia, the implementation of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system is gaining momentum as part of national initiatives to modernize healthcare. ⋯ The electronic documentation system is seen as a major transformation in healthcare in many hospitals worldwide. Moreover, electronic nursing documentation is crucial for patient safety. Its implementation in our hospital revealed a positive impact of the ENR on certain aspects of care quality while highlighting gaps in inter-team handovers.
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Fasting during Ramadan involves abstaining from food and drink from dawn to sunset, potentially influencing cognitive functions essential for the intellectual development of the youth. Therefore, understanding the effects of fasting on these functions in children/adolescents provides valuable perspectives to enhance education and promote mental well-being. However, studies on children/adolescents in this context are still limited. ⋯ The current study, conducted with healthy children/adolescents, indicates that Ramadan fasting had no impact on various reaction times (SRT, CRT, NPRT), suggesting the preservation of information processing speed and decision-making, even in the face of increased task complexity. This is evident, on the one hand, through the maintenance of the ability to react to unexpected events, and, on the other hand, through the mastery of resistance to automatism, thus reflecting the preservation of inhibitory function (NPRT). Regarding P300 data, the absence of changes in latencies and amplitudes suggests that Ramadan fasting did not alter either the evaluation time of auditory stimuli or auditory attention processes.
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The diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which is the most common type of cancer in children, has become more accurate with the use of flow cytometry. Here, this technology was used to immunophenotype leukemic cells in peripheral blood samples from Libyan pediatric ALL patients. We recruited 152 newly diagnosed patients at Tripoli Medical Center (Tripoli, Libya) by morphological examination of blood and bone marrow. ⋯ The reported results indicate that the most common subtype was pro-B ALL, and the frequency of T-ALL subtype was higher compared to previous studies. Six cases were positive for both myeloid and B lymphoid markers. Our findings may provide the basis for future studies to correlate immunophenotypic profile and genetic characteristics with treatment response among ALL patients.