METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from March to April 2021. An online survey, consisting of socio-demographic characteristics, Internet use, eHealth Literacy Scale and mobile health application utilisation, was distributed amongst pharmacy undergraduates in public and private universities in Malaysia. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance test, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test.
RESULTS: A total of 415 participants completed the survey (response rate = 82.5%). The median eHealth Literacy Scale score (out of 40) was 31.0 ± 3.0 (interquartile range). More than one-third of participants (34.7%) were found to have low eHealth literacy. Many lacked confidence in making health decisions from online information (42.4%) and skills in distinguishing between high-quality and low-quality health resources (35.2%). Only 70.4% of the participants had mobile health applications installed on their smartphones and/or tablets. Some students felt that they were neither knowledgeable nor skilful enough to utilise mobile health applications (24.8%), whereas 23.9% were unaware of the mobile health applications available.
CONCLUSION: In summary, the eHealth literacy of Malaysian pharmacy students can be further enhanced by incorporating eHealth literacy-focused programmes into the curriculum. Moreover, pharmacy students' mobile health application utilisation can be improved through increased awareness and support from universities.
Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among 482 medical, dental, and pharmacy students of 3rd- and 4th-year degree program of Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology University to assess their KAP about HB infection using 34 prevalidated questions by convenient sampling method. A questionnaire was administered to the students, and their responses were measured at "yes" and "no" scale. Students' responses were entered in SPSS version 22, and quantitative analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests at P < 0.05.
Findings: The medical, dental, and pharmacy students had good knowledge and practice with positive attitude about HB infection. Mann-Whitney U-test determined a significant difference in knowledge (P < 0.001) and practice (P < 0.001) scores between medical and pharmacy, attitude (P < 0.001) scores between medical and dental, and attitude (P < 0.001) and practice (P < 0.001) scores between pharmacy and dental students. Students' age was correlated with their attitude, practice, and KAP scores and family income with their knowledge, attitude, practice, and KAP scores.
Conclusion: Although students' knowledge and practice were good with positive attitude, all the students did not participate in health education program, screening, and vaccination of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection which makes them more vulnerable to occupational HBV infection. Hence, it is recommended to organize a regular health education program for the students on screening and vaccination against HBV to prevent its infection.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved third- and fourth-year pharmacy students at the International Islamic University Malaysia. A validated self-administered questionnaire was distributed to students who had taken a vOSCE a week before.
RESULTS: Out of the 253 students who were approached, 231 (91.3%) completed the questionnaire. More than 75% of the participants agreed that the instructions and preparations were clear and helpful in familiarizing them with the vOSCE flow. It was found that 53.2% of the respondents were satisfied with the flow and conduct of the vOSCE. However, only approximately one-third of the respondents believed that the tasks provided in the vOSCE were more convenient, less stressful, and easier to perform than those in the conventional OSCE. Furthermore, 49.7% of the students favored not having a vOSCE in the future when conducting a conventional OSCE becomes feasible again. Internet connection was reported as a problem hindering the performance of the vOSCE by 51.9% of the participants. Students who were interested in clinical pharmacy courses were more satisfied than other students with the preparation and operation of the vOSCE, the faculty support, and the allocated time.
CONCLUSION: Students were satisfied with the organization and operation of the vOSCE. However, they still preferred the conventional OSCE over the vOSCE. These findings might indicate a further need to expose students to telehealthcare models.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective online questionnaire based survey was carried out among the pharmacy students about knowledge, attitude perception and practice of antibiotics using 5-point "Likert scale" and true/false responses. The responses range from strongly agree to strongly disagree, and always to never were recorded. The data were analysed by using simple descriptive statistics.
RESULTS: Out of 300 students approached 212 responded and the response rate was found to be 71%. In this study, most (95%) of the students were aware of the emerging problem of antibiotic resistance due to inappropriate use of antibiotics. Majority (89%) of the students agreed the inappropriate use of antibiotics can increase the overall cost of treatment. However, over half of the (54%) students were not aware of the antibiotic resistance that may be a nation-wide problem of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The net positive response (NPR) and net other response (NOR) of all items in perception on antibiotics received more or less equal responses.
CONCLUSION: The knowledge of antibiotics usage among the students are considerably good compared with previous studies. However, the attitude, perception and practice on antibiotics usage among the pharmacy students are very poor. It alarms the need of appropriate education to enlighten antibiotic awareness for the better disease prevention and health outcomes for the benefit of patient community.