Motivations and Barriers towards Volunteer Work among Family Medicine Residents and Primary Health Care Physicians in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia

Introduction: Volunteering is an unpaid voluntary activity that provides some services to one or more other people or the community at large. Volunteer in the medical field is common. Physicians and medical students are participating in voluntary activities. This study assessed the motivations and barriers of Family Medicine (FM) Residents and Primary Health Care (PHC) Physicians in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out between 12th March 2021 to 31st September 2021 in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia. 63 FM residents and 89 PHC physicians were involved. A self-administered questionnaire using Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) questions was distributed. A 30-item questionnaire is divided into 6 scales of 5 items each, which are scored using a 5-point Likert-type scale (where 1 strongly disagrees and 5 strongly agree). Results: Of 152 FM residents and PHC physicians, 91 (59.9%) were males, and Saudi 90 (59.2%). The mean age was 35 (±SD8.6) years. The majority of respondents 126 (85.7%) participated in different kinds of volunteer work. The highest rank of the benefits selected 137 (90.1%) was gained Allah’s pleasure. About 66 (43.4%) of respondents reported different reasons as barriers;lack of time was the dominant reason for 59 (38.8%). A strong statistical association was found between gender and facing barriers (P-value Conclusions: This study highlighted that the values motivation factor was the highest among the six motivation determinants. The main reason preventing respondents from doing voluntary work was the lack of time. Male gender and Saudi nationality physicians participated more in previous voluntary work P-value < 0.001. Further future research into studying human behaviour towards voluntary work is highly needed.

SARS-CoV-2 and hearing:An audiometric analysis of COVID-19 hospitalized patients

Purpose COVID-19 associated hearing loss is still an ongoing matter of debate.No original studies exist on audiological effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hospitalized patients.The main objective was to determine whether SARS-CoV-2 may affect auditory function in clinically ill COVID-19 patients.Materials and methods COVID-19 patients with moderate-severe disease and without prior history of hearing abnormalities were enrolled from a tertiary referral center,and matched with controls.Participants performed an audiometric evaluation,and thresholds were compared.Results 120 ears from 60 patients were enrolled.Patients with COVID-19 showed worse mean auditory thresholds starting from 1000 Hz through higher frequencies,when compared to controls(1000 Hz:18.52±5.49 dB HL in controls vs 25.36±6.79 dB HL in COVID-19,p<0.001;2000Hz:17.50±5.57 dB HL in controls vs 21.96±7.05 dB HL in COVID-19,p=0.010;3000Hz:17.97±8.07 dB HL in controls vs 25±9.38 dB HL in COVID-19,p=0.003;4000 Hz:20.16±10.12 dB HL in controls vs 29.55±11.26 dB HL in COVID-19,p=0.001;8000 Hz:31.09±12.75 dB HL in controls vs 40.71±19.40 dB HL in COVID-19,p=0.030;Pure Tone Average:20.42±4.29 dB HL in controls vs 24.85±5.62 dB HL in COVID-19,p=0.001).Statistical significance persisted after adjusting for confounders such as age,gender and various comorbidities(p<0.05).Conclusions SARS-CoV-2 may affect hearing in COVID-19 patients with moderate-severe disease.Results are in line with the previous suggested effects of COVID-19 on auditory system.This study is expected to encourage further research on this topic.