METHODS: A qualitative study was conducted among patients and primary care trainees (known henceforth as doctors). Patients aged ≥ 60 years, having ≥ 1 chronic disease and prescribed ≥ 5 medications and could communicate in either English or Malay were recruited. Doctors and patients were purposively sampled based on their stage of training as family medicine specialists and ethnicity, respectively. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. A thematic approach was used to analyse data.
RESULTS: Twenty-four in-depth interviews (IDIs) with patients and four focus group discussions (FGDs) with 23 doctors were conducted. Four themes emerged: understanding the concept of deprescribing, the necessity to perform deprescribing, concerns regarding deprescribing and factors influencing deprescribing. Patients were receptive to the idea of deprescribing when the term was explained to them, whilst doctors had a good understanding of deprescribing. Both patients and doctors would deprescribe when the necessity outweighed their concerns. Factors that influenced deprescribing were doctor-patient rapport, health literacy among patients, external influences from carers and social media, and system challenges.
CONCLUSION: Deprescribing was deemed necessary by both patients and doctors when there was a reason to do so. However, both doctors and patients were afraid to deprescribe as they 'didn't want to rock the boat'. Early-career doctors were reluctant to deprescribe as they felt compelled to continue medications that were initiated by another specialist. Doctors requested more training on how to deprescribe medications.
METHODS: A 24-item ASK-Q with four domains: self-understanding (5 items), aetiology (5 items), complications (5 items) and management (9 items) of liver cirrhosis was developed based on literature review and expert panel input. It was then piloted in five English-speaking patients with liver cirrhosis. These patients commented that the font size was too small. Hence, the font was enlarged and the final version of the ASK-Q was administered to English-speaking patients with liver cirrhosis, aged ≥18 years, with or without decompensation, at a tertiary hospital, from September 2020 to November 2021, at baseline and fortnight later. Patients with encephalopathy were excluded.
RESULTS: 120/135 patients agreed to participate (response rate = 88.9%). The overall median score was 59.1 (45.6-68.2). A total of 7/22 (31.8%) items were "easy", 14/22 (63.6%) items were "moderately easy" and 1/22 (4.5%) items were "difficult". Exploratory factor analysis extracted nine factors, and two items were omitted. The ASK-Q was able to discriminate the knowledge level of patients with and without tertiary education [59.1 (50.0-72.7) vs. 54.5 (36.4-63.6); P
METHODS: The ACPQ was translated according to international guidelines. This validation study was conducted from January to June 2018. Participants who were ≥ 21 years old, and able to understand Malay were recruited from an urban primary care clinic and a tertiary education institution in Malaysia. A researcher administered the ACPQ-M to participants via a face-to-face interview at baseline and 2 weeks later. Each interview took approximately 10-20 min.
RESULTS: A total of 222/232 participants agreed to participate (response rate = 96.0%). Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis found that the ACPQ-M was a 4-factor model. The Cronbach's α values for the four domains ranged from 0.674-0.947. Only 157/222 participants completed the test-retest (response rate = 71%). At test-retest, quadratic weighted kappa values for all domains ranged from 0.340-0.674, except for two domains which ranged from - 0.200-0.467.
CONCLUSIONS: The ACPQ-M was found to be a 4-factor model, and a valid and reliable instrument to assess the KAP regarding ACP. This instrument can contribute to profound understanding of the KAP of Malaysians regarding ACP, and assist policy makers in determining the readiness for legislation of ACP in Malaysia.
METHOD: A multi-centered, cross-sectional study design was conducted from February 2017 to September 2017 at a tertiary hospital and its affiliated dialysis centers, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Included were patients > 18 years of age who were undergoing hemodialysis and could understand Malay. Participants were asked to fill the Malay 5D-itch scale and the Malay Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) upon recruitment.
RESULTS: A total of 334/334 patients were recruited (response rate = 100%). The majority were male (59.6%) and Chinese (61.7%). A total of 61.3% had pruritus, of which most patients (63.4%) reported that their pruritus was mild. More than half (54.1%) reported that they slept > 6 h, and 93.2% experienced no sleep disturbances during the night. However; the overall PSQI median score [IQR] was 6.0 [5.0-9.0]. No significant association was found between demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with the severity of pruritus. Patients with moderate to severe pruritus were found to be 5.47 times more likely to experience poor sleep quality as compared to patients with mild or no pruritus.
CONCLUSION: In Malaysia, the prevalence of CKD-aP was 61.3%, of which the majority reported that their pruritus was mild. Patients with moderate to severe pruritus were found to be 5.47 times more likely to experience poor sleep quality as compared to patients with mild or no pruritus.
DESIGN: This cross-sectional study was conducted from July-September 2018.
SETTING: This study was conducted at the University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
PARTICIPANTS: We recruited community-dwelling adults (ambulatory care patients or their accompanying persons) who were ≥21 years old and able to understand English or Malay. A 1:10 systematic sampling procedure was used. Excluded were community-dwelling adults with intellectual disabilities or non-Malaysian accompanying persons. A trained researcher administered the validated English or Malay Advance Care Planning Questionnaire at baseline and 2 weeks later.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was the KAP regarding ACP. The secondary outcomes were factors associated with KAP.
RESULTS: A total of 385/393 community-dwelling adults agreed to participate (response rate 98%). Only 3.1% of the community-dwelling adults have heard about ACP and 85.7% of them felt that discussion on ACP was necessary after explanation of the term. The desire to maintain their decision-making ability when seriously ill (94.9%) and reducing family burden (91.6%) were the main motivating factors for ACP. In contrast, resorting to fate (86.5%) and perceived healthy condition (77.0%) were the main reasons against ACP. Overall, 84.4% would consider discussing ACP in the future. Community-dwelling adults who were employed were less likely to know about ACP (OR=0.167, 95% CI 0.050 to 0.559, p=0.004) whereas those with comorbidities were more likely to favour ACP (OR=2.460, 95% CI 1.161 to 5.213, p=0.019). No factor was found to be associated with the practice of ACP.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite the lack of awareness regarding ACP, majority of community-dwelling adults in Malaysia had a positive attitude towards ACP and were willing to engage in a discussion regarding ACP after the term 'ACP' has been explained to them.
METHODS: The study consisted of two phases. In Phase 1, a 10-item instrument (SAIL-10) was developed and tested on a cohort of medical and pharmacy students who attended the workshop. In Phase 2, different cohorts of medical and pharmacy students completed SAIL-10 before and after participating in the workshop.
RESULTS: Factor analysis showed that SAIL-10 has two domains: "facilitators of interprofessional learning" and "acceptance to learning in groups". The overall SAIL-10 and the two domains have adequate internal consistency and stable reliability. The total score and scores for the two domains were significantly higher after students attended the prescribing skills workshop.
CONCLUSIONS: This study produced a valid and reliable instrument, SAIL-10 which was used to demonstrate that the prescribing skills workshop, where medical and pharmacy students were placed in an authentic context, was a promising activity to promote interprofessional learning among future healthcare professionals.
METHOD AND DESIGN: This pre-post study will be conducted prospectively among patients with ESRD who have been on dialysis at the Hemodialysis Unit, Hospital Kuala Lumpur and the Hemodialysis Affiliated Centers of the University Malaya Medical Centre, from August 2020 till August 2021. Medication adherence will be assessed using the General Medication Adherence Scale (GMAS), whilst patients' HRQOL will be assessed using the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Short Form 36 (KDQOL-36). Clinical parameters such as blood glucose level, calcium, phosphate, hemoglobin and serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels will be obtained from medical records. A total of 70 patients will be recruited.
DISCUSSION: We hypothesize that the implementation of pharmacy-based MR and MI may expect an increase in medication adherence scores and increase in HRQOL scores from baseline as well as achieving the clinical lab parameters within the desired range. This would indicate a need for a pharmacist to be involved in the multidisciplinary team to achieve a positive impact on medication adherence among hemodialysis patients.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: Ethical approval has been obtained from the National Medical Research and Ethics Committee NMRR: 20-1135-54435 and Medical Research Ethics Committee, University Malaya Medical Centre MREC ID NO: 202127-9811.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was carried out from March to October 2018 at a tertiary hospital in Kuala Lumpur. The SQOP was translated from English to Malay according to international guidelines. Malay-speaking postmenopausal women ≥50 years were recruited and randomized into control and intervention groups. The intervention group received an osteoporosis prevention information booklet and a 15-minute pharmacist counselling session. All patients were asked to answer the SQOP-M questionnaire at baseline and two weeks later. The control group received the intervention after the study was completed.
RESULTS: Overall, 230/348 patients were recruited (C=115, I=115, response rate=66.1%). Exploratory factor analysis extracted four domains. Cronbach's α ranged from 0.230 to 0.938. Kappa measurement of agreement values ranged from 0.124 to 0.627, where 10/23 (43.5%) items were in moderate to substantial agreement. Wilcoxon signed rank test values were statistically significant (p<0.005) for 4/23 items. Item 17 was an optional question and excluded from analysis. Total satisfaction score was significantly higher for intervention group patients [76.9 (47.6-53.9) vs 50.4 (47.6-53.9), p<0.001] indicating higher satisfaction compared to control group.
CONCLUSION: The SQOP-M was found to be valid and reliable in assessing patient satisfaction of osteoporosis screening and prevention services provided to Malay-speaking patients in Malaysia.