June 09-41-2.indd - Kma.org.kw

March 2009KUWAIT MEDICAL JOURNAL 169Materials and Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to 105 graduates of the Medical LaboratorySciences (MLS) Department, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University from the years1982 to 2001 who are currently working in Ministry of Health hospitals. Of those, 85 questionnaireswere returned and this was a response rate of 80 percent.Results: Fifty-six percent of respondents were satisfied overall with their jobs, but 44% were notsatisfied. Overall job satisfaction was found to be associated with having the opportunity of applyingtheir academic knowledge and laboratory skills to their work when job conditions were conducive tothe work and there was collegiality in the laboratory. Reporting to only one supervisor also showeda positive relationship with overall job satisfaction. In contrast, perceptions of unhealthy workingconditions, where employees tended to be a hindrance to another employee, were associated withlower overall job satisfaction. Forty-nine percent of all respondents reported that they were notsatisfied with organizational practice, 44% were not satisfied with the work environment, and 39%were not satisfied with their autonomy and freedom to work.Conclusion: A high percentage of laboratory technologists were not satisfied overall with their jobsor with specific aspects of their jobs. Particularly important in this respect were whether technologistsfelt that their work appropriately used their knowledge, feelings of technical competency, workrelated rules/procedures, and presence of unhealthy competition. These issues of health workerdissatisfaction need to be addressed by the health authority managers responsible for these servicesand by academics who train MLS workers.Diarrhoeagenic Escherichia Coli are Not a Significant Cause ofDiarrhoea in Hospitalised Children in KuwaitBMC Microbiol 2009; 9:62Albert MJ, Rotimi VO, Dhar R, Silpikurian S, Pacsa AS, Molla AM, Szucs GBackground: The importance of diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) infections in the Arabian Gulfincluding Kuwait is not known. The prevalence of DEC enterotoxigenic [ETEC], enteropathogenic[EPEC], enteroinvasive [EIEC], enterohemorrhagic [EHEC] and enteroaggregative [EAEC]) wasstudied in 537 children [less than or equal to] 5 years old hospitalised with acute diarrhoea and 113matched controls from two hospitals during 2005-07 by PCR assays using E. coli colony pools.Results: The prevalence of DEC varied from 0.75% for EHEC to 8.4% for EPEC (mostly atypicalvariety) in diarrhoeal children with no significant differences compared to that in control children(P values 0.15 to 1.00). Twenty-seven EPEC isolates studied mostly belonged to non-traditionalserotypes and possessed beta and theta intimin subtypes. A total of 54 DEC isolates from diarrhoealchildren and 4 from controls studied for antimicrobial susceptibility showed resistance for olderantimicrobials, ampicillin (0 to 100%), tetracycline (33 to 100%) and trimethoprim (22.2 to 100%);43.1% of the isolates were multidrug-resistant (resistant to 3 or more agents). Six (10.4%) DEC isolatesproduced extended spectrum beta-lactamases and possessed genetic elements (blaCTX-M, blaTEMand ISEcp1) associated with them.Conclusion: We speculate that the lack of significant association of DEC with diarrhoea in childrenin Kuwait compared to countries surrounding the Arabian Gulf Region may be attributable to highenvironmental and food hygiene due to high disposable income in Kuwait.