HIV/AIDS is a matter of concern and has become a pandemic disease that threatens the world population. It
has remained one of the priorities in global public health challenges. Caring for people with HIV/AIDS
requires clinical expertise as well as high-quality skills for health care providers. The purpose of the study was
to examine knowledge and attitude on HIV/AIDS patients among nursing students. A cross-sectional study
was conducted in Public University at Wast Cost Malaysia. The 126 respondents of nursing students agreed to
participate in the study using a self-administered questionnaire that was designed and modied after reading
and referring to articles, books, and journals. The results of the research revealed that nursing students, in
general, have a satisfactory knowledge (mean score 30.71), but had a moderate attitude toward HIV/AIDS
patient with total mean score 2.34. Most of the students (89.3%) get the knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS
through the internet. The majority of the students knew that blood transfusion (99.4%) and sharing
needles/syringe (99%) were the higher sources HIV/AIDS modes of transmission. Most of the students agreed
that peoples with HIV/AIDS should be treated in society with support from the community (97.0%). Although
the knowledge level of nursing students seems to be satisfactory, but they still showed the moderate attitude
towards HIV/AIDS patients. Thus, structured education programmes should be conducted by nursing faculty
to ensure that nursing students gain the necessary accurate knowledge and an appropriate attitude towards the
care of HIV/AIDS patients.
Patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases are known as
high-risk groups for developing chronic kidney disease (CKD). Adequate related knowledge among them
helps to increase their awareness towards CKD and adapt healthy attitude and practices for CKD
prevention, which will result in better health outcomes. This study aimed to identify the patients'
knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) towards the risks for CKD. This cross-sectional study used a selfadministered
survey questionnaire on 103 adult male and female patients at four general surgical and
medical wards in a teaching hospital using convenient sampling method. The data were computed using
STATA version 12. Data on KAP were obtained through the Chronic Kidney Disease Screening Index
questionnaire. The majority of respondents had poor knowledge (69.9%, n=72), but most of them had good
attitude (68.9%, n=71) and good practices (88.3%, n=91) towards the risk of CKD. Significant associations
were indicated between education level, occupation and monthly family income with knowledge (p-value <
0.05). Significant associations were also indicated between age, sex, marital status and occupation with
their attitude (p-value < 0.05). Meanwhile, marital status was found to be significantly associated with the
practices towards the risk for CKD (p-value=0.008).
Poor knowledge on the risk of getting CKD among hospitalized adults in this study implied the need for
improvement in the public understanding towards the risk for CKD.
The prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is increasing worldwide and even in Malaysia. Hence, the knowledge of adiponectin with regards to gestational diabetes mellitus is a key contributor to disparity in maternal and neonatal morbidities. This study aimed to assess nurses' knowledge of adiponectin and its association with gestational diabetes and obesity in pregnancy. A cross-sectional survey was employed. Respondents were selected by purposive sampling using a pre-tested, structured questionnaire. Ninety one nurses (100%) were aware that obesity increased adverse health outcome among pregnant women, but some confusion exits among nurses about adiponectin with regards to pregnancy. Most of the nurses lack condence in providing care to pregnant women with many (82.4%) addressed the need for education on this topic. In the one-way ANOVA analysis, nurses' knowledge score was significantly associated with education level (p<0.001) and working experience in maternity units (p<0.001). This study demonstrates gaps in the knowledge of adiponectin and its association with obesity and pregnancy. Continuous nursing education for nurses on adiponectin and obesity-related issues in early pregnancy should be strengthened to enhance knowledge and confidence in providing quality antenatal services.
Keywords : Nurses, adiponectin, obesity, pregnancy, gestational diabetes
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.
Aim: This study aims to determine the perception of adult patients towards the importance of prevention of coronary artery diseases (CAD) in order to raise awareness on the risk of CAD.
Method: 80 adults between 18-40 years old were enrolled in the out-patient department at a private hospital. The awareness and perception of the importance of preventing CAD were assessed using a questionnaire.
Result: The level of perception on the importance of prevention of CAD was quite good. 75% of the subjects (n = 60) recorded good level of perception meaning they are aware of the importance of prevention of CAD. 22.5% of the subjects (n = 18) recorded a satisfactory level of perception while only 2.5% of the subjects (n = 2) recorded a poor level of perception towards the importance of prevention of CAD. Majority of the subjects had good perception on importance of a balanced diet, exercise and active lifestyle.
Conclusion: In conclusion it can be said that although people are aware of the risk posed by CAD, recommendations such as proper health teachings and guide lines are still required to ensure that the community is able to understand the risk and take preventive measure in order to reduce the risk of obtaining the risk of heart disease.
Study site: Outpatient clinic, private hospital, Malaysia
This quantitative-oriented research was conducted to identify factors that contributed to errors in dispensing medication among nurses and to understand why nurses did not report their errors in dispensing. In this study a total of 284 U29 nurses participated in focusing on factors contributing to medication errors and failure to report the errors. In this study, analysis of the data collected was made in two sections; dispensing errors and failure to report the errors in giving medication. According to Evans et al. (2006) although nurses may not admit directly to such errors, they expressed their perceptions towards situations described in the questionnaire items as contributing to medication errors among nurses. Almost all in the sample of 284 chose not to report medication errors because they could not identify the cause of dispensing errors; other nurses perceived that the individual involved is not competent in performing the task. Other reasons include fear that the action will be exposed by the management, to avoid publicity from the media, and there is no difference in reporting or not reporting the medication errors. This study was done not only for exploring factors of medication errors; it also aspires to identify problems that arise in hospital services and in order to maintain the quality of health care. The management should consider the impact of medication errors and failure to report medication errors on the nursing profession and quality image of the hospital.
Background: The prevalence of asthma among children is common. In Malaysia, the clinical observations have demonstrated that many children with asthma were not properly assessed and did not get proper treatment. Hence, poor asthma control could cause disruption to the child's ability to get enough sleep, to pay attention, to participate in school activities and thus affecting their quality of life.nagement
Aim: The objective was to determine the effect of PAEP to change the quality of life of children, parents' mapractice and parents' technique of using an inhaler for their asthmatic children.
Methods: The study design was a one group pre-test-post-test intervention study. The respondents consisted of 78 parents with asthmatic children, aged between 8 to 12 years old. Parents were required to answer the Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory Questionnaire, Management Behaviour Survey for Familial Caregivers and skills of inhaler technique using the checklist at the Paediatric Clinic Hospital USM. Following that were given a date to attend PAEP and were assessed two months later for postintervention. The analysis for PedsQL, Management Behaviour Survey for Familial Caregivers and skill of inhaler technique was done by using paired t-test. A total of 70 parents completed the study.
Results: The study showed that the mean age for children with asthma was 9.31 years. PedsQL pre-intervention scores were 75.8%, and post-intervention 82.8%. The Mean of Management Behaviour Surveyfor Familial Caregivers scores increased from 53.16 to 62.33 pre-intervention and post-intervention, respectively. While the mean skill scores for inhaler user had increased from 3.43 to 7.13 for the MDI with a spacer. The findings showed statistical significance with P-values (<0.001) for PedsQL, Management Behaviour Survey for Familial Caregivers and skill scores for inhaler use.
Conclusion: The PAEP had improved the children's quality of life, parents management practice andinhaler skills among parents with asthmatic children.
Keywords : Prevalence, asthma, quality of life
Study site: Paediatric clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Kelantan, Malaysia
Medication errors could bring serious consequences to patients. Reporting medication error is a strategy to
mitigate such incidence from happening. Unfortunately, some nurses do no report the errors due to certain
factors. Determining the factors influencing unreported medication errors will ensure imperative actions
that are to be taken to curb this issue. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence and perceived
causes of unreported medication errors among nurses in a public hospital in Selangor. A descriptive and
cross-sectional study was carried out in 26 wards from various disciplines and the sample involved 234
nurses. The data were gathered through self-reported questionnaires consisting of three sections. The first
section covered demographic characteristics, the second section aimed to obtain information on the
frequency of medication error incidents and the last section aimed to obtain information on nurses'
perceptions of barriers in reporting medication errors. The findings of this study indicated that there was a
significant relationship between level of education and the nurses' perceptions of barriers in reporting
medication errors. The study recommended that providing enough education, initiating a non-punitive
culture may help increase voluntary reporting of medication errors among nurses to strengthen the
reporting system and to avert medication errors in the future.
Clinical posting is the most important part in nursing education, requiring knowledge, skills, and the right
attitude to facilitate the development to be a professional nurse. However, clinical posting was found to be the
most stressful phase for nursing students throughout their education process in most countries. As nursing
students enter the real hospital environment with the lack of knowledge and nursing skills, their health can be
affected. The aim of this study is to assess the level of stress and physio-psycho-social symptoms among
nursing students in a public university during clinical posting. This cross-sectional study design involved 181
undergraduate nursing students who had completed their clinical posting in a government hospital. The
results showed that the nursing students experienced stress most of time especially during their clinical
posting. The most common cause of stress was from the workload and assignment and the most common
response to stress was behavioral symptoms. This study revealed that the residence where these students lived
had significance with the level of stress during their clinical posting (p=0.01). Detecting early stress events,
creating more effective environment and understanding the effectiveness of coping behaviors may help
nursing educators reduce the negative effects of stress which will altogether help students handle stress more
effectively.
Introduction: Worldwide, cervical cancer is the fifth most common cause of death caused by cancer
following other types of cancer (Parkin, Louie & Clifford, 2008). In Malaysia, cervical cancer is the third
most common cancer among women and the fourth most prevalent cause of death (Parkin et al., 2010;
Ministry of Health, Malaysia, MOH, 2006). Many studies indicated that knowledge of cervical cancer
would improve screening coverage and preventive practices among women. It is important for young
females to have appropriate knowledge and practices regarding cervical cancer and its prevention, since
they are vulnerable to get this kind of preventable disease.
Methodology: Adescriptive cross-sectional quantitative study design was used to find out the knowledge,
attitude and practices about cervical cancer and its prevention among the university female students in
Malaysia. Self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. The questionnaire
focused on the demographic characteristics, knowledge on causes, risks, attitude and practice regarding
prevention of cervical cancer.
Findings: In general, the respondents had moderate and low level of knowledge regarding cervical cancer
and risks factors. Majority (76%) of respondents knew that HPV vaccine could prevent occurrences of
cervical cancer. Most of the respondents did not know about the risks and symptoms of cervical cancer.
However, nearly two-third (72%) had positive attitude on cervical cancer whereas approximately one-third
(28%) showed their negative attitude towards cervical cancer. Regarding attitude statements, nearly all
statements were showed positive attitude except the fact that they were examined by male doctors for Pap
smear. Most of respondents (73% Vs 93% respectively) had never been vaccinated against cervical cancer
before, and never experienced the Pap smear test before.
Conclusion: In conclusion, the knowledge and practices regarding cervical cancer among the female
students at the study area were generally insufficient. There is a need for health education program among
them to increase their knowledge, awareness, and practices on cervical cancer and its prevention so as to
enhance the cervical screening rates among them and prevent occurrences of cervical cancer in their later
lives.
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.
Psychological well-being is relatively complex notions with a variety of components that may contribute to it. Individuals differ in their overall levels of psychological health and well-being. Mother with low birth weight (LBW) babies required hospitalization especially in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) more exposed to the experience of anxious symptoms. Therefore, it would become a stressful event that might cause psychological distress or even emotional crisis in mother's when their infants were LBW especially premature. Health promotion is very important to prevent this problem. Health promotion efforts aimed at improving infant health status must do so by improving women's health. Improving women's health before, during, and after pregnancy is the key to reduce the human and economic costs associated with infant mortality and morbidity. To improve both women's and infants' health, efforts should include an emphasis on preventive health care services, family-oriented work site options, changes in social norms, and individual behavior modification. Therefore, it is important for health care professionals in NICU to be able to assess the factors associated psychological well-being of mother's with LBWinfant.
Neonate Resuscitation Program, NRP training is given to nurses in batches. Such programs are vital because neonate resuscitation procedure or aid given to new born during delivery, help them begin breathing on their own, which can save many lives. Although such training is given to the nurses, no assessment has been done on the effectiveness of such training with regard to knowledge retention and transfer of training among the trainees. This study is retrospective in nature; it evaluates the level of knowledge and the confidence in carrying out the neonate resuscitation procedure among 91 nurses involved such training. Besides that, the study ascertains their preparedness before undergoing the training and the opportunities provided to them to practice the skills learnt from the training at their work place. Factors that influence both their knowledge and skills after the training are also indentified. Study sample consist of 51 nurses from hospitals and 40 nurses from health clinics. Results show that skills acquired from training as measured by their confidence at carrying out the learnt skill deteriorate faster than knowledge. Level of knowledge retained, confidence at carrying out the neonate resuscitation procedure and opportunities for practicing the skill are all significantly higher for the nurses at the hospitals compared to their counterparts in the health clinics at the 95 percent level. The recent trainees (2009) scored higher compared to the old trainees (2007 and 2008) with regard to their preparedness or motivation before the training although memory factor could play a part here. Confidence at carrying out the neonate resuscitation procedure at the work place is a measure of the effectiveness of the NRP training because it constitutes transfer of training. Level of knowledge retained and opportunities for practicing skill at work place after the training, together with trainees' preparedness and motivation before the NRP training, all three contribute 35.7% towards trainees' confidence in carrying out the NRP procedure at their work place. Contribution of these three variables is significant at the 95% level or p< 0.05. Findings are consistent with the Model of factors that affect Learning Outcomes and Transfer of Training by Goldstein and Ford (2002).
Keywords: NEONATE RESUSCITATION
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
Diabetes Mellitus has become one of the major and rising diseases affecting population all around the world. The most common complication that rises from the Diabetes Mellitus is diabetic foot ulcer. The increasing rate in diabetic foot ulcer among elderly has become a challenge that continues to rise and worsen. This study is conducted to determine the knowledge and practice of foot care and also the relationship between socio demographic data with knowledge of foot care among diabetic elderly in UKM Medical Centre (UKMMC). This is a quantitative cross-sectional descriptive study. A total of 81 respondents are being participated in this study. More than half of the study participants are female and majority of them are 60-74 years old. The result showed a significant relationship between gender and marital status with the knowledge of foot care among elderly diabetic patient in UKMMC. The present study showed that there was no significantly relationship between age, occupation, monthly income, duration of diabetes, body image and level of education with the knowledge and the level of foot care. In conclusion, the result of this study will help the health organization, hospital, nurses and care giver to take more responsibilities of foot care for diabetic elderly individuals.
Study site: Elderly patients from orthopaedicf emale or male ward, surgical ward, medical ward, orthopaedic clinic and medical clinic, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Diabetes is a chronic complicated disease. For that reason, self-care management and education are necessary to control blood glucose levels to decrease mortality and morbidity rate, the risk of complications and adverse medication related events. Lack of knowledge about a diabetic medication and non-adherence contribute to poor glycemic control among diabetes patients. Therefore, this study aims to assess relationship between medication knowledge and medication adherence among T2DM. A cross sectional study was carried out in outpatient's diabetic clinic in University Malaya Medical Centre via recruiting 250 participants. A set of questionnaires from earlier research were used to collect the data. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis is used to analyze the data. The inclusive results indicated that, the mean age of the participants was 57.90 ±13.22 within 56years. More than half of patients (52.5%) had poor medication knowledge, and 47.5% had good knowledge. In terms of medication adherence, most of the participants (87.0%) had medium medication adherence; whereas, only 1.3% showed high medication adherence. However, there was no correlation between medication knowledge and medication adherence (p=0.743). The chi-square results indicated that medication knowledge was associated significantly with gender, educational level, employment status and monthly income (p value < 0.05). In conclusion it can be said that this study provides insight for healthcare professional about medication knowledge and adherence which are important for managing diabetes. Awareness of these factors will allow them to be more effective about medication counseling so that patients can become self-responsible and realize the benefits of prescribed therapies.
Study site: Diabetic Clinic, University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The mass of the top quark is measured in 36.3fb-1 of LHC proton-proton collision data collected with the CMS detector at s=13TeV. The measurement uses a sample of top quark pair candidate events containing one isolated electron or muon and at least four jets in the final state. For each event, the mass is reconstructed from a kinematic fit of the decay products to a top quark pair hypothesis. A profile likelihood method is applied using up to four observables per event to extract the top quark mass. The top quark mass is measured to be 171.77±0.37GeV. This approach significantly improves the precision over previous measurements.
A search for decays to invisible particles of Higgs bosons produced in association with a top-antitop quark pair or a vector boson, which both decay to a fully hadronic final state, has been performed using proton-proton collision data collected at s=13TeV by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138fb-1. The 95% confidence level upper limit set on the branching fraction of the 125GeV Higgs boson to invisible particles, B(H→inv), is 0.54 (0.39 expected), assuming standard model production cross sections. The results of this analysis are combined with previous B(H→inv) searches carried out at s=7, 8, and 13TeV in complementary production modes. The combined upper limit at 95% confidence level on B(H→inv) is 0.15 (0.08 expected).
The production of Z bosons associated with jets is measured in pp collisions at s=13TeV with data recorded with the CMS experiment at the LHC corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.3fb-1. The multiplicity of jets with transverse momentum pT>30GeV is measured for different regions of the Z boson's pT(Z), from lower than 10GeV to higher than 100GeV. The azimuthal correlation Δϕ between the Z boson and the leading jet, as well as the correlations between the two leading jets are measured in three regions of pT(Z). The measurements are compared with several predictions at leading and next-to-leading orders, interfaced with parton showers. Predictions based on transverse-momentum dependent parton distributions and corresponding parton showers give a good description of the measurement in the regions where multiple parton interactions and higher jet multiplicities are not important. The effects of multiple parton interactions are shown to be important to correctly describe the measured spectra in the low pT(Z) regions.