METHODS: Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 233 undergraduate dental students involved with clinical teaching. This modified and validated questionnaire focusing on students' learning environment was used in order to gain relevant information related to dental clinical teaching. Six domains with different criteria applicable to clinical teaching in dentistry were selected consisting of modelling (four criteria), coaching (four criteria), scaffolding (four criteria), articulation (four criteria), reflection (two criteria) and general learning environment (six criteria). Data analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20.
RESULTS: Majority of the students expressed positive perceptions on their clinical learning experience towards the clinical teachers in the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, in all criteria of the domains. Few negative feedbacks concerning the general learning environment were reported.
CONCLUSION: Further improvement in the delivery of clinical teaching preferably by using wide variety of teaching-learning activities can be taken into account through students' feedback on their learning experience.
BACKGROUND: With increasing demand for hospitals to provide end-of-life care, the low quality of palliative care provided in hospital settings is an issue of growing concern in developing countries. Most dying patients receive their care from general nurses, irrespective of the nurses' specialty or level of training.
METHOD: A structured cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted of 553 nurses working at a teaching hospital in Malaysia.
RESULTS: The mean scores for nurses' knowledge about end-of-life care, their attitudes towards end-of-life care and the perceived quality of end-of-life care were low. The factors identified as significantly associated with the quality of end-of-life care were nurses' levels of knowledge and their attitudes towards end-of-life care.
DISCUSSION: Factors that contributed to the low quality of end-of-life care were inadequate knowledge and negative attitudes. These findings may reflect that end-of-life care education is not well integrated into nursing education.
CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that there is a need to increase the nurses' level of knowledge and improve their attitude towards end-of-life care in order to enhance the quality of care provided to dying patients.
IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY: Nurse managers and hospital policymakers should develop strategies to enhance nurses' level of knowledge, as well as providing adequate emotional support for nurses who care for dying patients and their families. Nurses should be proactive in increasing their knowledge and adopting more positive attitudes towards end-of-life care.
METHOD: A qualitative study was conducted at the 3 community palliative care provider organizations in greater Kuala Lumpur from August to October 2014. Data were collected with semistructured interviews with 16 nurses who have provided care to children and was analyzed using thematic analysis. Two categories were identified: (1) challenges nurses faced and (2) coping strategies. The themes identified from the categories are (1) communication challenges, (2) inadequate training and knowledge, (3) personal suffering, (4) challenges of the system, (5) intrapersonal coping skills, (6) interpersonal coping strategies, and (7) systemic supports.
CONCLUSIONS: These results reinforces the need for integration of pediatric palliative care teaching and communication skills training into all undergraduate health care programs. Provider organizational support to meet the specific needs of the nurses in the community can help retain them in their role. It will also be important to develop standards for current and new palliative care services to ensure delivery of quality pediatric palliative care.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS: An online survey was performed by sending out an online questionnaire comprising 21 questions among dental practitioners working in four different countries: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Malaysia and United Kingdom. The survey evaluated dental practitioners' level of awareness about the PD therapy, comportment and attitude for its implication and prevalence in daily clinical practice. For statistical significance the Chi-square analysis with Spearman Correlation coefficient was conducted to assess the sub-groups and correlating the factors with the level of awareness of the dental practitioners.
RESULTS: A total of 1,219 dental practitioners from four different countries (Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Malaysia and United Kingdom) responded to the questionnaire. The median age of the respondents was 37, 34, 36 and 39 respectively. The majority of dental practitioners demonstrated to have an acceptable level of awareness regarding PD therapy. Nearly 76%, 74%, 79% and 80% of the individuals from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Malaysia and United Kingdom respectively were aware of the role/mechanism of action of the PD therapy. Moreover, in preponderance, practitioners were confident that the effect of PD therapy will not be reduced in patients infected with COVID-19. The majority of dental practitioners were convinced that successful dental treatment due to PD therapy is linked majorly with therapies done in relation to four major dental specialties: prosthodontics, endodontic, restorative dentistry and periodontology. Approximately more than 90% of the dentists were sure that the rate of COVID-19 transmission can be reduced by using PD therapy in oral treatments. The dental practitioners from Saudi Arabia (91%), Pakistan (82%), Malaysia (83%) and United Kingdom (82%) were contented to learn about PD therapy for its use in clinical practice. Nearly more than 95% of the practitioners from the four countries were keen to attend the lectures/hands-on workshops regarding PD therapy to enhance their skills and knowledge. More than 80% of dentists do not refuse the peripheral role of PD therapy with their patients.
CONCLUSIONS: The respondents from the four countries displayed passable level of awareness regarding basic information of PD therapy and its clinical implication in dental specialty. Nevertheless, there is a need to develop awareness regarding the use of PD therapy among dental practitioners during their undergraduate program. Furthermore, lectures and hands-on workshops should be arranged to train dental practitioners in order to enhance their skills for its solicitation in clinical practice. It is perceived by the dentists in the four countries that the use of PD therapy can effectively reduce COVID-19 rate of transmission.
METHOD: This cross-sectional survey was conducted among community pharmacists in all 14 states of Malaysia between November 2021 and July 2022. The self-administered survey was shared to relevant groups through various social media platforms.
RESULTS: A total of 312 community pharmacists were involved in the survey. Majority of the respondents were females (66%), with a mean age (SD) of 32.9 (8.4) years. Most of the respondents showed satisfactory practice for patient counselling, but improvements are needed particularly in risk assessment and collaborative care aspect. Most of them expressed their interest for dyslipidemia management training (89.4%). Lack of access to medical records (71.2%) and lack of CVD-related educational materials (70.8%) were the two main perceived barriers identified.
CONCLUSION: Community pharmacists in Malaysia provide a satisfactory role in the provision of cardiovascular disease-related health promotion activities, especially in providing patient counselling. Strengthening collaborative care is essential for providing comprehensive and patient-centered intervention in dyslipidemia management. This requires ongoing efforts to address and overcome existing barriers for effective teamwork and coordination among healthcare professionals.
METHODS: Data for this study were obtained from final year medical students' exit examination (n=185). Retrospective analysis of data was conducted using SPSS. Means for the six CSs assessed across the 16 stations were computed and compared.
RESULTS: Means for history taking, physical examination, communication skills, clinical reasoning skills (CRSs), procedural skills (PSs), and professionalism were 6.25±1.29, 6.39±1.36, 6.34±0.98, 5.86±0.99, 6.59±1.08, and 6.28±1.02, respectively. Repeated measures ANOVA showed there was a significant difference in the means of the six CSs assessed [F(2.980, 548.332)=20.253, p<0.001]. Pairwise multiple comparisons revealed significant differences between the means of the eight pairs of CSs assessed, at p<0.05.
CONCLUSIONS: CRSs appeared to be the weakest while PSs were the strongest, among the six CSs assessed. Students' unsatisfactory performance in CRS needs to be addressed as CRS is one of the core competencies in medical education and a critical skill to be acquired by medical students before entering the workplace. Despite its challenges, students must learn the skills of clinical reasoning, while clinical teachers should facilitate the clinical reasoning process and guide students' clinical reasoning development.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey on dentists' knowledge and their practices in prevention and early detection of oral cancer was conducted using a 26-item self-administered questionnaire.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A response rate of 41.7% was achieved. The level of knowledge on early signs and risk habits associated with oral cancer was high and the majority reported to have conducted opportunistic screening and advised patients on risk habit cessation. Factors that influenced the dentist in practising prevention and early detection of oral cancer were continuous education on oral cancer, age, nature of practice and recent graduation. Notably, dentists were receptive to further training in the area of oral cancer detection and cessation of risk habits. Taken together, the study demonstrated that the dental clinic is a good avenue to conduct programs on opportunistic screening, and continuous education in these areas is necessary to adequately equip dentists in running these programs. Further, this study also highlighted knowledge deficits and practice shortcomings which will help in planning and developing programs that further encourage better participation of dentists in prevention and early detection of oral cancer.