Introduction: Critical thinking is an important element in nursing practice as well as being a vital educational outcome in any nursing curriculum. Critical thinking can influence the outcome of patient care and patient satisfaction. Objective: To determine the level of critical thinking ability among nursing students in two nursing colleges and its differences according to social demographic variables. Method: This was a cross sectional descriptive study design in which Critical Ability Scale for College Students were used to collect data from 158 nursing students in two private nursing colleges in Malaysia. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling. Results: The mean overall score for critical thinking ability was 70.6±6.98 with scores ranging from 56 to 89. The mean score of the subscales was 3.63±0.50 for intellectual, eagerness and health skepticism abilities, 3.63±0.42 for intellectual honesty ability, 3.61± 0.41 for prudence ability and 2.68±0.64 for objectivity ability. There are no significant differences between the independent variables and level of critical thinking ability. Conclusion: A high critical thinking ability score was reported with intellectual, eagerness and health skepticism being the highest subscale. The way forward requires academicians and clinicians to work together to ensure a transfer of knowledge and skills from the classroom to the clinical environment in order to develop and enhance the ability to think critically in making clinical decision and produce thinking nurses for the future.
Family members' satisfaction has become an important measurement in determining the quality of care of patients in the critical care setting. The aims of the study were to determine the satisfaction level of family members, to determine the reliability of family satisfaction and its subscales, to identify mean of each question and their subscales. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 30 family members who accompanied patients during intensive care admission. The study was conducted in a critical care setting in
a high dependency unit (HDU) and cardiac intensive care unit (CCU), Hospital University Sains Malaysia (Hospital USM). The data was collected from October 2012 to January 2013. The Critical Care Family Satisfaction Survey (CCFSS) Malay version was used to measure family satisfaction in addition to the collection of demographic data. The statistical analysis used a descriptive approach. Ethical approval was obtained prior to data collection. Majority of the respondents were female: 23 (76.7%). Mean age was 35.67 years (SD=12.83) and the score of overall satisfaction level was 78.80 (SD=13.88). The Cronbach's alpha was 0.96. A majority of the respondents, 19 (63.3%) were satisfied with the care provided. This study showed that a majority of family members were slightly satisfied with the care that was provided in a critical
care setting at HUSM. It also showed that families play an important role in giving support and hope to patients.
Study site: HDU and CCU, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Kelantan, Malaysia
LBW infants are at risk not only due to neonatal complications but also by other risk factors (eg. congenital anomalies associated with LBW). This research is motivated by the high incidence of LBW in Tasikmalaya City Hospital each year. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between demographic factors in this case the mother's age, maternal education level, socio-economic level with the incidence of LBW. The research hypothesis has a relationship between maternal age, maternal education level, socioeconomic level, pregnancy with LBW incidence. The benefits of research provide a basis for evidencebased practice to nursing practitioners, that there is a relationship between demographic factors (maternal age, education level and socioeconomic level) with the incidence of LBW. Quantitative research method was used with cross sectional approach. The data was processed using univariate and bivariate analysis. The results of the study show no significant relationship between the factors of maternal age, education level, socioeconomic level with the incidence of LBW in Tasikmalaya City Hospital with p value > 0.05 for all variables. From the present study it is suggested that nurses should improve health education so that people can understand better about the risk of LBW.
This case study illustrates an ongoing therapeutic dilemma which continues to place the patient's welfare at risk. The safety predicament is associated with the transfusion of blood or their products to the correct patient. Predictably, healthcare scholars declare that when clinical practice is ineffective, a “theory-practice gap” is typically responsible. Within this paradigm there is often a gap between theoretical knowledge and its application in clinical practice. Most of the evidence relating to the non-integration of theory and practice makes the premise that environmental factors will influence learning and practice outcomes, hence the "gap". However, it is the author's belief, that to "bridge the gap" between theory and practice an additional component called “Ethics” must be appreciated. This introduces a new concept “theory-practice-ethics gap” which must be considered when reviewing some of the unacceptable appalling outcomes in health care practice
Effective and skilful communication is crucial and an important element in the quality of nursing care. This enables nurses to assess patients' needs and provide them with the appropriate physical care, emotional support, knowledge transfer and exchange of information. However, nurses find it difficult to communicate effectively and therapeutically with their patients. Aim: To identify the nurses' and adult inpatients' perceptions of barriers to effective nurse-patient communication. Methodology: A descriptive study was used to collect data from nurses (n=40) and adult inpatient (n=63) in multidisciplinary wards in a private hospital in Malaysia. Two sets of self-administered questionnaire for the two different groups of participants, the patients and nurses were used. Data were analysed using the SPSS version 20.0. Results: Nurses and adult in patient perceived heavy workload, dialect and negative attitudes towards nurses as main barriers that hinders effective communication among nurses and patients. Conclusion: Communication places an important part in patients' satisfaction of care and the ability of the nurse to provided patient centred care. Nurses should take in to account those communication barriers that affect the patients and be confident enough to take the first step to initiate communication and be able to handle patients' dynamic emotions.
This article define and discuss the issue of plagiarism by nursing students either in academic or clinical settings. It describes and explore the scenario of plagiarism among nursing students and implications for the qualification of the students. Currently, prevention is required to avoid negative culture in nursing education due to plagiarism.
The article review was to identify, discuss, explore, critically analyze and evaluate the scenario of Human ImmunodeficiencyVirus (HIV) among women in nursing perspective taking into account global perspective. The current aim is to reduce the number of HIV globally, especially among women. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is considered as a disease state of hopelessness and imminent death. HIV and AIDS status demotivate the women emotionally in physical, social, and emotional perspectives. HIV-positive women portray of AIDS is deeply discrediting; with physical failure, moral failure, and social ostracism.
A pressure ulcer is a common health problem, particularly among the physically limited or bedridden individuals. The most vulnerable group to suffer this condition is the elderly. The prevalence of Geriatric inpatient with pressure ulcer stage I, II, III or even IV for a month was 35.5% of the total admission. The understanding of recovery process, prevention remains the best management strategy as it improves their quality of life. This study aims to compare PU development outcomes in geriatric patients nursed on either using the Durable barrier cream (Cavillon cream) or non-pharmacological intervention alone. Using the Quasi experimental study-design, the selected participants were subjected to Cavaillon cream as well as the intervention. The assessment used were the outcome of the pressure ulcer was assessed using the measured size of the redness area. There was the statistically significant reduction in pressure ulcer size on day three compared to the size on day one among the intervention group, z value was -5.028, p
This study sought to investigate understanding of obesity among registered nurse e-PJJ student semester 9 UiTM in Puncak Alam, in Selangor, Malaysia. A survey research design was used for the study. 100 nurses were randomly selected from 130 nurses in e-PJJ student semester 9. Study of this population was done by systematic sampling. The target groups for this study are matrons, sisters and staff nurses. 100% nurses showed understanding of obesity. Eating habits of the nurses contributed to this obesity. It was recommended among others, that nurses should practice theoretical knowledge base and the need to more opportunities for physical activities at hospital sites was emphasized.
Keywords: Obesity, Registered Nurses, Knowledge and attitude
Introduction: Patient advocacy is a central concept for the profession of nursing as it assures patient rights and safety. This article presents the findings from a study which explored the perceptions of patient advocacy from Muslim ICU nurses. Methods and participants: Our study utilized a constructivist grounded theory approach. Thirteen registered intensive care nurses from an adult critical care setting in a tertiary academic teaching hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, participated in the study. The researcher employed semi-structured interviews that were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim, with an additional data collection strategy of reflective journaling. A reflective journal was provided to all study participants following each interview. Results: The study generated codes which connected to vulnerable patients, and subsequently identified a core category of “Caring critically” which was exemplified by six additional inter-related advocacy categories of “Essential caring”; “Vulnerable-acy”; “Familial-acy”; “Cultural-acy”; “Religion-acy”; and “Human-acy”. These categories generated the model for patient advocacy. Conclusion: The pyramid of patient advocacy can be applied in clinical practice to guide Muslim nurses, in addition to being utilized in the educational setting as a standard to teach registered nurses about the role and responsibilities of a patient advocate.
The main objective of this study is to evaluate the nurses' level of burnout and identify the factors that influence it. Burnout, one such stress-related outcome, has been conceptualised as a multidimensional construct consisting of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment. Items adapted and translated from Maslach Burnout Inventory were used to collect data from 60 respondents. Among the respondents, 5.0% showed a high level of Emotional Exhaustion while 95.0% were at the moderate and mild level. Respondents with a high level of Depersonalization constitute 3.3% while 96.7% were at a moderate and mild level. Analysis show that 48.2% are at the high and moderate level for Personal Accomplishment while 51.7% is still at the lower level. Mean score for Personal Accomplishment 33.53 as oppose to Emotional Exhaustion 15.90 and Depersonalization 3.60 indicate a low level of burnout characteristic among the staff nurses. Correlation analysis suggest a significant but moderate relationship between Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization r = 0.62, p<0.05. A conducive working environment was suggested as a way of improving quality of health care and to hinder burnout. Keywords: Retirement, Readiness, Financial Capacity, Social Support, Preoccupation
Adequate consumption of Omega-3 fatty acids are essential during pregnancy because they play an important role in the development offetal brain and retina. The rate of growth remains high during the first year of life. Omega-3 is converted inside the body into longer chain polyunsaturated fatty acids docosahexanoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). DHA and EPA are primarily derived from fish and algae. DHA is essential for the growth and functional development of the brain in infants. DHA is also required for the maintenance of normal brain function in adults. The inclusion of adequate amount of DHA in the diet improved learning ability, whereas deficiencies of DHA are associated with deficits in learning. DHA is readily taken up by the brain in preference to other fatty acids. The turnover of DHA in the brain is very fast, more so than is generally realized. The visual acuity of healthy, full-term, formula-fed infants is increased when their formula includes DHA. However, health professionals and the general public in Malaysia may not be aware about the importance, sources or the quantities required for these essential fat components in foods. This review discusses the benefits of omega-3 consumption with particular emphasis during pregnancy and the first year of life. This review will also attempt to discuss sources of omega-3 fatty acids in Malaysia with the aim to achieve the recommended nutrient intakes foromega-3 fatty acids.
Keywords: Omega 3 fatty acids, Lactation in Pregnancy, Sources of Omega-3 FA
Background: Having multiple kinds of health problems among metabolic syndrome patients may cause
them stress. Life events also may worsen their stress. Negative stress affects not only their physical but also
emotional health. Various coping styles are used in order to deal with their stress. However, not all coping
styles can overcome their stress.
Objectives: This study aims to explore the coping styles that have been employed by the stressed metabolic
syndrome patients in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia.
Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the stressed metabolic syndrome patients in
Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. A purposive sampling was selected among stressed respondents, as
fifteen of them participated in this study after saturation data was reached. The qualitative data was analysed
using content analysis and was categorized into dysfunctional, problem-focused and emotion-focused
coping.
Results: The themes that emerged were; self-distraction, venting, behavioural disengagement, denial and
self-blame. These were categorized as dysfunctional coping; acceptance, religion and emotional support as
emotion-focused coping and active coping and instrumental support which were categorized as problemfocused
coping. Other new coping styles identified were physical intervention, avoidance and emotion
suppression.
Conclusion: Coping styles has direct influence on the feeling of stress. Stressed patients used many
dysfunctional coping styles rather than other categories of coping which lead them to remain in stress. These
data highlighted the need to educate patients about good coping styles to give them additional skills in
managing their stress thus improving their health.
Low back pain is a common occupational health issue especially among nurses that leads to suffering, disability and days of work lost that affect the continuity and quality of patients care. This study aims to determine prevalence of low back pain among registered nurse at Surgical Unit in RPZ II Hospital and identify the associated factors. It is a cross-sectional study that used a self-administered questionnaire to collect the data among a convenience sample of 60 nurses. Data was analyzed using Pearson Chi-Square. Majority of them were aged 31 to 40 years (53.3%), Malays (91.5%), married (84.6%), had working experience from 11 to 15 years (50.8%), had formal manual handling training (64.9%) and are overweight(58.3%). The prevalence of low back pain was 63.8%. The study revealed statistical significance for race (p=0.002), number of patients they have to handle (p=0.005), satisfaction with working environment (p=0.007) and emotional and social problems (p=0.007, p=0.038, respectively).
Nurses play a key role in caring for the mentally ill and in rehabilitating them after an episode of illness. The nurses' attitude towards a patient is generally considered to be one of the basic factors contributing to the administration of total therapeutic nursing care. The purpose of this study was to examine whether attitudes towards mental patients improve after psychiatric attachment as well as the relationship between attitudes to psychiatry and intention to pursue psychiatry as a career. The study was conducted on sixty nursing students of fifth semester at the Kolej Kejururawatan Kubang Kerian, Kelantan who are doing their psychiatric postings in Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II, Kota Bharu. The sampling technique for this study was convenient sampling. The instrument used for this study surveyed questionnaire developed by Brenda Happell (Happell, 2008). This quasi-experimental study measured changes in students' attitudes and satisfaction with clinical experience following a placement in mental health nursing. The questionnaire was administered to the nursing students on the first and last day of their psychiatric clinical placement session. The findings suggested that clinical experience during psychiatric clinical posting can positively influence attitudes, preparedness for practice and the popularity of mental health nursing. Satisfaction with clinical experience was also high. The findings of this study suggest that clinical postings had positive effects on nursing students' attitudes towards psychiatric patients and confidence in this field of practice.
Study site: Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II, Kota Bharu
Exercise is an important practice in leading a healthy lifestyle. However, recently the percentage of
Malaysians who practice healthy lifestyle has decreased and the rate of overweight or obesity isincreasing.
This study aims to explore the knowledge, attitudes and practices of exercise among nursing college
students. Questionnaires were used as a research instrument and distributed to Kuala Terengganu Nursing
Collage students consisting of 281 students, ranging from year 1 to year 3 in semester II. Data collection
was carried out within two weeks. The results of this study showed that almost 66.9% of trainees chose
aerobic exercise as their favorite exercise. This form of exercise is good for strength and durability of the
cardiovascular. Almost 90.4% of them did exercises together with their friends. From the results, their
coach had a relatively good level of knowledge about exercise. The majority of students have a positive
attitude towards exercise. There is a relationship between knowledge and their value of exercise. Age is
correlated with knowledge, meaning that the older the person the more knowledgeable they are on the
benefits of exercise. Age and semester of study showed moderate correlation of 0.525 with awareness of
exercises to increase stamina and strength of the body's defenses.
Dengue incidence has grown dramatically in recent decades and become a global incidence especially in the
urban area. Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia reported that the number of dengue cases since January
2014 until June 2014 was 38. 411 cases which was higher compared to the number reported in year 2013 (10,
910 cases). The objective of the study was to determine the knowledge and preventive practices of dengue
among residents in Flat Pandan Indah, Ampang Selangor. A cross sectional study design with convenience
sampling method was adopted in this study. A total of 298 respondents living in Flat Pandan Indah were
recruited based on the inclusion criteria. A validated questionnaire that measures knowledge and preventive
practices of dengue was completed by respondents. More than half of the respondents had scored 61.7%
with good knowledge regarding dengue. However, 50.3% of the respondents had a limited extent of dengue
practice. Almost all of the respondents (95.6%) reported that television or radio as the main source for
information on dengue. The common preventive measures used by the respondents were cleaning the
house (n=148, 49.7%), eliminating standing water around the house (n=123, 41.3%) and covering water
containers in the home (n=120, 40.a3%). There was no correlation between dengue knowledge and
preventive practice score (p = 0.109). The study revealed that majority of the respondents had good
knowledge regarding dengue but the practices to prevent dengue are poor. Thus, health education program
focusing on dengue prevention practices should be done on the community members in the future.
Socio-cultural poses as the enabler and barrier in breastfeeding practice. A review of published literature
was conducted and a total of 25 articles were reviewed to seek the answer: How religious belief and
sociocultural influence breastfeeding practice? Published articles were identified through electronic
searches of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Google scholars and IIUM Repository within timeframe of 2011
to 2017. Through this searching, three key themes were identified: religious views on breastfeeding,
sociocultural perspectives and challenges. A comprehensive understanding on religious recommendation
and cultural influence would benefit in the reconstruction of breastfeeding promotion and education
program.
Purpose:The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between workplace mindfulness, cognition, emotion, behaviour and psychology on job performance. In addition, age was tested as the moderating factor on the relationship between workplace mindfulness, cognition, emotion, behaviour and psychology on job performance. Method: The research was conducted on nurses working in Malaysian government hospitals among 127 respondents were chosen. Data was collected from the respondents using a structured questionnaire. The data were analysed with factor analysis, reliability test and multiple regression analysis. Results: Results indicated that only workplace mindfulness, cognition and behaviour had a positive significant influence on job performance. Age moderated the relationship between the cognition, behaviour and psychology positively and significantly on job performance. Contribution: The Malaysian government hospital management is suggested to focus on these three factors in order to overcome job performance issue among nurses.
Advanced nursing practice involves higher level of knowledge and skills of nurses to perform autonomous practice in clinical settings in order to meet the needs of individuals, families and communities. Advanced practice in nursing is also known as adjusting boundaries for future practice, pioneering and developing new roles of nurses in clinical practice, research and education. Advanced practice of nursing in the developed countries are recognized with different nomenclatures such as advanced nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, specialized nurse practitioner, nurse practitioner, certified nurse practitioner and advanced practice registered nurse. Malaysia is one of the pioneering Asian countries to introduce clinical nurse specialist in hospital settings, which is a stepping stone for the development of advanced nursing practice.
Keywords: Nurses in Malaysia, Clinical Nurse Practitioner, Advanced Nurse Practice