AIMS: To describe the national state of advance care planning development in Malaysia METHODS: Review of relevant advance care planning literature locally and internationally was undertaken.
RESULTS: Positive development in Malaysia includes implementation of advance care planning at institutional level, initiatives to develop educational programmes as well as research activities to understand the attitude and perception of patients on advance care planning. However, there remain challenges, including lack of knowledge and awareness, lack of legislative framework to guide advance care planning implementation and lack of strong initiatives at a national level.
CONCLUSIONS: It is evident that there is much to learn nationally and internationally about ACP before any decision on implementation of ACP is made in Malaysia. ACP is a public health issue and requires concerted effort of all stakeholders, including Government agencies, academic institutions, and non-government organizations to raise public awareness. More research is needed to shape the future direction of ACP development in Malaysia.
METHODS: A multidimensional survey instrument measuring attitudes to xenotransplantation, including the factors that predict such attitudes, was developed based on earlier studies and validated. It was then completed by 469 respondents who were stratified in accordance with stakeholder groups in Malaysia. A single-step SEM analysis was then conducted to estimate the measurement and create a structural model using IBM SPSS Amos version 20 with a maximum-likelihood function.
RESULTS: The attitudes of Malaysian stakeholders towards xenotransplantation were moderately positive (mean score of 4.20). The most important direct predictor of attitude to xenotransplantation was perceived benefit (β = 0.59, P
METHODS: We conducted an online survey among neurosurgery residents in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand from May 22 to 31, 2020 using Google Forms. The 33-item questionnaire collected data on elective and emergency neurosurgical operations, ongoing learning activities, and health worker safety.
RESULTS: A total of 298 of 470 neurosurgery residents completed the survey, equivalent to a 63% response rate. The decrease in elective neurosurgical operations in Indonesia and in the Philippines (median, 100% for both) was significantly greater compared with other countries (P < 0.001). For emergency operations, trainees in Indonesia and Malaysia had a significantly greater reduction in their caseload (median, 80% and 70%, respectively) compared with trainees in Singapore and Thailand (median, 20% and 50%, respectively; P < 0.001). Neurosurgery residents were most concerned about the decrease in their hands-on surgical experience, uncertainty in their career advancement, and occupational safety in the workplace. Most of the residents (n = 221, 74%) believed that the COVID-19 crisis will have a negative impact on their neurosurgical training overall.
CONCLUSIONS: An effective national strategy to control COVID-19 is crucial to sustain neurosurgical training and to provide essential neurosurgical services. Training programs in Southeast Asia should consider developing online learning modules and setting up simulation laboratories to allow trainees to systematically acquire knowledge and develop practical skills during these challenging times.
METHODS: A questionnaire survey was sent by e-mail to members of AOSpine to evaluate their familiarity and use of PROMs instruments and to assess the barriers to their use in spine care practice in LA, EU, AP, NA, and ME.
RESULTS: A total of 1634 AOSpine members from LA, EU, AP, NA, and ME answered the electronic questionnaire. The percentage of spine surgeons who were familiar with the generic health-related quality of life questionnaire was 71.7%. In addition, 31.9% of respondents did not use any PROMs routinely. The main barriers to implementing PROMs were lack of time to administer the questionnaires (57%) followed by lack of staff to assist in data collection (55%), and the long time to fill out the questionnaires (46%). The routine use of questionnaires was more frequent in NA and EU and less common in LA and ME (P < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: We found that 31.9% of spine surgeons do not use the PROMs questionnaire routinely. This appears to occur because of lack of knowledge regarding their importance, absence of reimbursement for this extra work, minimal financial support for clinical research, the cost of implementation, and lack of concern among physicians.
OBJECTIVE: This study was intended to assess the knowledge and attitude towards OSA and compare it among dental and medical undergraduate students of University Sains Malaysia (USM).
METHODS: In this study, a total of 216 clinical undergraduate students (36 from each year; 108 from medical and 108 from dental school) of University Sains Malaysia (USM) Health campus were recruited for the study by non-probability stratified random sampling method. Total study period was October 2017 to October 2018. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the sociodemographic status and OSAKA questionnaire was used to assess knowledge and attitude regarding sleep apnoea of the respondents. Descriptive analysis was carried out to assess the knowledge and attitude of OSA amongst dental and medical undergraduate students of USM. The Mann-Whitney U test was carried out to compare the knowledge and attitude of OSA amongst dental and medical undergraduate students of USM.
RESULTS: Our study findings revealed that 0.9 %and 6.5 %of the dental undergraduate students and medical undergraduate students could answer all the questions correctly regarding knowledge of OSA. Based on the assessment of the difference between medical and dental students in terms of knowledge towards OSA patients, significant difference was observed at the significance level of 95%, where p
OBJECTIVES: The current study aims at motivating readers to help improve students' attitudes towards research work within the university context.
METHOD: The target demographic of the current research comprises masters and doctoral students from three major public institutions in Xi'an, China. We aimed to examine the effects of the variables and the study employed correlation and stepwise regression.
RESULTS: The results show that advisor support influences attitudes towards research positively and significantly (β= 0.20, p
AIM: This study aimed to explore the views of Palestinian women and healthcare providers regarding factors contributing to the mistreatment of women during childbirth at childbirth facilities in the West Bank, Palestine.
METHODS: A qualitative study was conducted in the West Bank, Palestine, from February 2019 to April 2019. In-depth interviews were conducted with six Palestinian women and five healthcare providers. Consent was obtained individually from each participant, and the interviews ranged from 40 to 50min. Data collection was continued until thematic saturation was reached. Open-ended questions were asked during interviews. Thematic analysis was used to interpret the data collected from the interviews.
RESULTS: Four themes were identified with regards to the women and healthcare providers' views about factors contributing to the mistreatment of women during childbirth in the West Bank, Palestine: limitation in childbirth facilities, factors within the healthcare providers, the women themselves, and barriers within the community.
DISCUSSION: Mistreatment of women during childbirth may occur due to the limitations of resources and staff in childbirth facilities. Some women also justified the mistreatment, and certain characteristics of the women were believed to be the factors for mistreatment.
CONCLUSION: As the first known study of its kind in West Bank, the identified contributing factors especially the limitations of resources and staff are essential to provide good quality and respectful care at childbirth facilities.
METHODS: We conducted a health facility-based cross-sectional study in Aceh and West Sumatra province from 1 February to 13 June 2018. Patients who visited outpatient departments, have had children or were expecting their first child, were approached and interviewed to collect information on acceptance, WTP, demographic and socio-economic variables and attitudes towards childhood vaccines. Associations of explanatory variables influencing acceptance and WTP were assessed using logistic regression and linear regression analysis, respectively.
RESULTS: In total, 956 respondents were included in the final analysis of acceptance, of whom 338 (35.3%) expressed their WTP. We found that 757 (79.1%) of the respondents were likely to be vaccinated and to recommend their partner to be vaccinated. Higher educational attainment, having a job, having heard about Zika and a good attitude towards childhood vaccination were associated with ZV acceptance in the univariate analyses. In the multivariate analysis, attitude towards childhood vaccination was the strongest predictor for ZV vaccination. We found the geometric mean and median of WTP was US$ 13.1 (95% CI: 11.37-15.09) and US$ 7.0 (95% CI: 4.47-10.98), respectively. In the final model, having heard about Zika, having a job, and higher income were associated with a higher WTP.
CONCLUSION: Although the acceptance rate of the ZV is relatively high in Indonesia, less than 40% of respondents are willing to pay, underscoring the need for a low-cost, high-quality vaccine and public sector subsidies for Zika vaccinations in the country.