Introduction: Standard precautions in health care is the essence of medical practice encompassing the safety of patients and health care workers including medical students. Barriers to the proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE) exist across the world but identification of areas of weaknesses and appropriate remedies will reduce them. This study assesses knowledge and use of PPE among fourth year students after a period of educational interventions.
Objective: To evaluate appropriate use, awareness and knowledge about PPE among fourth year students after interventions.
Method: A cross- sectional study where forty year 4 students (Group B) were randomly observed and later asked to answer a questionnaire. Students had undergone interventions to improve PPE use, which included lectures and video sessions during each posting. Results were compared with a previous group (Group A). Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test was used to analyse the data.
Results: There was statistically significant improvement in the use of PPE like wearing and removing mask during invasive procedures (p < 0.001) and hand-washing before and after a non- invasive task (p < 0.001) . Comparison of Groups A and B on the results of the questionnaire for ‘Questions in which more than 10% students answered incorrectly’, showed that there was improvement in Group B in all the questions, some being statistically significant with p value=0.01.
Conclusion: An overall improvement in the use of the PPE and knowledge was noted. Sometimes, students’ attitude and personality may be a challenge and these students may defy changes, but this can be overcome if the strategies are embedded in the curriculum and taught from as early as the first semester.
Health promotion (HP) is the process of enabling people to increase control over the determinants of health and thereby improve their health. It is the corner stone in prevention of diseases and shifting the responsibilities of health care from health care provider into the community where the patient centered approach is an appropriate setting by offering continuous, coordinated and comprehensive care throughout the patient’s family and community. The Faculty of Medicine, University technology MARA has adopted dynamic approach in designing the curriculum to respond to the needs of this rapidly changing socioeconomic paradigm of the country, so that the graduates will be able to address the needs of their country and communities. Population health and preventive medicine component was included in the newly designed problem based curriculum, in which the student is introduced to the concepts of epidemiology, disease prevention, statistical analysis and community research. Health promotion program is part and parcel of population health and preventive medicine; it is incorporated with community health research in a course of four weeks of Year Four Medical Curriculum. The aim of this paper is to describe the rationales of health promotion program in medical curriculum, and critically review the components and methods of implementation.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of nutrition education intervention among university students in terms of social, psychological factors and nutrition-related Quality of Life (NQoL) outcomes after receiving a 10-week nutrition education. Longitudinal and randomised study design was adopted for the study. Methods: A total of 417 respondents from four public universities in Terengganu were randomly assigned to either intervention group (IG = 205) or control group (CG = 212). The IG received nutrition education through three tools; 1) conventional lecture, 2) brochures and 3) text messages via short messaging system (SMS) while the CG not received any intervention. Students completed the Malay version of NQoL (6 domains; 49 items; Likert-type responses=1-5) and SF-36 (8 domains; 36 items) at pre-intervention and post-intervention. Data analysis was carried out by using SPSS 16.0 utilising descriptive and parametric statistics. Results: Ninety-one percent of participants (IG = 178; CG = 202) completed the study (age = 19.1±1.1 years; female = 87.6%; Malay = 98.2%). After controlling for possible confounders (eg. weight, waist, hip circumferences and pre-intervention scores for each domain), IG possessed relatively higher NQoL score in Food Impact (p = 0.001), Social / Interpersonal (p = 0.008), Physical Functioning (p = 0.011) and Overall NQoL (p = 0.001). However, Psychological Factors did not show any significant difference for both groups. Conclusion: Although the intervention did not generate significant impact in the psychological component over a period of 10 weeks, significant positive impacts in Social/Interpersonal aspects and NQoL were clearly shown. ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 15 (1): January - June 2014: 39-53.
Objective: This study aimed to assess the concurrent validity of the Malay version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) PSS-10 item.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among all students in a medical faculty in Malaysia. The questionnaire included three parts; socio-demographic correlates, PSS-10 and the validated Malay version of Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 item (DASS-21). Spearman's correlation coefficient was used in the analysis.
Results: Stress subscale of DASS -21 correlated positively with the total score of PSS-10 (r= +0.50, p<0.001), positively with the negative subscale of PSS-10 (r=+0.36, p<0.001) and negatively with the positive subscale of PSS-10 (perceived coping) (r= -0.33, p<0.001).
Conclusion: The Malay Version of PSS-10 has fair correlation with the stress subscale of DASS-21. This confirmed the concurrent validity of this scale, which further strengthened the previous evidence that the Malay version of PSS-10 was a valid tool to measure stress in Malaysian university students.
Keywords: Malay, Version, Stress, Medical, Students, Psychological Distress
Community and family case study (CFCS) is a community based educational (CBE) programme commenced in 1980 at School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia. It serves to help and resolve health needs of the individual patients, family and their community. This will help to develop generic skills such as organization, communication and problem solving in relation to local norms, beliefs and socio-cultural influences. Students should have good awareness, sensitivity and empathic response based on health needs and environment that they are living in. Knowledge, skills, attitudes, emotions and values are repeatedly exposed to inculcate optimal learning environment with the community, as well as triggered response by the student to give back to the community by volunteerism. CFCS activism can be revitalized within the individual and group context. This can be achieved by multi-dimensional learning, collaborative effort, effective leadership and supervision, creative programme initiation, effectual research activities and sustainable service to the community. It is hopeful with active community engagement, life experiences learning process, self-directed and reflective learning, students are able to acquire refined attributes such as skills, behaviour, knowledge and attitudes, towards successful personal growth and advancement.
Introduction: Appropriate professional conduct of clinical teacher is vital in their medicine practice. In UKM medical centre Malaysia, personal and professional development (PPD) of future medical professionals is greatly emphasized. The objective of this study was to determine the medical students' perception about the professional conduct of their clinical teachers at UKM medical centre. Methods: It was an online questionnaire survey conducted among the clinical students enquiring about the professional conduct of their clinical teachers. There were five statements and one open ended question which described students' preference about PPD teaching- learning method, expectation on PPD session, need of teachers training and experience about the excellent and inappropriate professional conduct of clinical teachers. The open ended question described what students had observed regarding the 'doctor-patient relationship' medical ethics and 'student-teacher relationship. A total of 77 questionnaires were returned after complete evaluation. The data were compiled and analysed using SPSS version 20 and the answers to the open ended questions were transcribed. Result: Role modelling was the preferred teaching-learning method for PPD as stated by 38% respondents; subsequent preferred methods were small group (30%), role play (24%), large group (7%) and reflective writing (1%). Majority (67.5%) respondents indicated that professional conduct of their clinical teachers was frequent enough as they had expected while 29.9% claimed that professional conduct was infrequently emphasized. Excellent professional conduct of clinical teachers was witnessed by 73% respondents while 27% indicated that they had never seen excellent conduct. When asked about inappropriate professional behaviours by clinical teachers, 53% indicated to have witnessed. Qualitative data also revealed both positive and negative experiences as reflected in open comments. According to 70% respondents clinical teachers required training to apply PPD in their daily practices. Conclusion: Professional conduct of clinical teachers as perceived by the students was excellent and frequents enough with experience of inappropriate behaviour too. Role modeling was the preferred teaching method while attention needed on reflective assignment. Educators must emphasize on role modelling in their daily practices and curriculum planners should give due importance on training needs of clinical teachers to apply PPD in their daily practices.
Introduction: Schoolbag weight across different types of school and schoolbag content has not been
studied in Malaysia. This cross sectional survey determines the weight of schoolbags, its content and
occurrence of back pain among primary school children in different medium primary school in Kuala
Lumpur. Methods: Students’ body weight, and schoolbags weight were measured using a calibrated
scale. Schoolbag content was examined, and weighed according to necessary learning materials
or unnecessary materials. Back pain in the past one week was assessed using a self-administered
questionnaire, adapted from previous studies. Results: A total of 358 students (167 male, 191 female)
were enrolled, of which 119 were from National School (NS), 122 from Chinese Medium School (CMS)
and 117 from Tamil Medium School (TMS). The mean schoolbag weight was 4.55±1.62kg for NS,
8.53±1.94kg for CMS and 6.06±2.09kg for TMS, which was 11.7%, 22.0% and 16.6% of body weight,
respectively. The mean weight of unnecessary schoolbag content was 0.64(0.91)kg for NS, 2.18(1.49)kg for CMS and 1.96(1.56) for TMS students. Back pain was detected in 87.0% NS students, 68.0% CMS students and 66.7% TMS students. Significant association was found between occurrence of back pain and types of school ( 2=16.64,p=0.00). Conclusions: Students from all the three mediums primary school, in particular Chinese medium school carry school bag heavier than that generally recommended, with unnecessary materials weigh up to 2kg. The occurrence of back pain is high and this is associated with the types of school.
Introduction: Accurate yet inexpensive methods for measuring free-living energy expenditure (EE) are
much needed. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of heart-rate monitoring method
(HRM) in measuring EE as compared to the established activity diary (AD) method. Methodology:
Minute-by-minute HRM and an activity diary (AD) were used simultaneously in 34 young adults (18
females, 16 males; mean age 21.5 ± 1.5 years). Estimates of the EE from HRM were based on individual
calibration using the Flex-HR procedure while EE from AD were calculated using both individually
measured and published energy cost of various activities. Total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) and its
components (EE during sleep, during rest and during physical activity) were compared using Student
paired-t tests. Results: TDEE from HRM method averaged 8.17 ± 2.00 MJ/day compared to 8.50 ±
1.28 MJ/day from AD method. Although large intra-individual differences were found (ranging from
-36.9% to 47.4%), there was no significant difference between the two methods (mean difference -3.6 ± 19.4%). The limits of agreement (mean ± 2SD) were -3.77 and 3.11 MJ/day. There were no significant
differences for any of the TDEE components between the two methods, except for EE during sleep
(p
Background: Clinical clerkship in a busy hospital environment forms an important part of undergraduate medical training. Regular objective assessment of this activity with feedback would be expected to improve outcome.
Methods: We implemented fortnightly clinical assessments using modified OSLER (Objective Structured Long Examination Record), and over a 6-week clinical rotation. Modifications included provision of individualized feedback. The assessment process was evaluated by both students and teachers via a questionnaire measuring their perceived educational impact, feasibility and acceptability.
Results: Students agreed that the patient spectrum was appropriate and fair, resulting in improved history taking and presentation skills (96.6%), clinical examination skills (89%) and clinical reasoning skills (90.7%). It was graded to have helped learning “tremendously” and “moderately” by 64.7% and 32.8% of students respectively. Perceived improvement was attributable mainly to the repetitive nature of the assessments since only 63% of students were provided with feedback. 96.6% of students and 94.1% of assessors perceived the format created a stressful but positive learning environment. 52.9% of assessors agreed that the exercise consumed significant time and resources but 88.2% rated it as manageable and supported its continuation.
Conclusion: Frequent and regular in-course clinical assessments with emphasis on individual feedback is feasible, acceptable and has significant positive educational impact.
Background: The General Health Questionnaire is a widely used scale to measure psychological distress. This scale is available in many languages. The original version comprised of 60 items. It is available in 30-items, 28- items, 20-items and 12-items. The shorter version is as good as the longer version of the scale. Objective: The aim of this investigation was to determine the sensitivity, specificity and reliability of the 12-item. General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) among university students. Method: A total of 280 undergraduate students were selected using convenient sampling. Result: The results of this study showed that the GHQ-12 is multidimensional and contains three factor structures. It has a high internal consistency and a useful instrument to measure the psychological wellbeing of university students in Malaysia Previous authors have suggested that the cut-off point is determined by the mean. Findings from this study, based on sensitivity and specificity, suggests that mean may not be a good option. This study recommends the best cut-off point is determined by the ROC. Conclusion: This study shows that the GHQ-12 is a valid and reliable instrument to detect psychological distress among university students. The optimum cut-off point
of the GHQ-12 score to detect psychological distress was 15/16.
Introduction: In dental schools, the clinical students are closely supervised to ensure a good quality of care delivery. However, little is known about the relation between the patients' satisfaction and the quality of care they received, therefore the aim of this study was to assess the relation between parents' satisfaction and the quality of dental care provided by dental students at IIUM students' polyclinic during paediatric clinical session.
Materials and Methods: A self-administered questionnaire on service quality, interpersonal communication, and efficacy and treatment outcome dimensions were distributed to parents who attended their children dental treatment from September 2016 until December 2016. Meanwhile, the students' performances were assessed for their clinical and soft skills by the allocated paediatric dentistry lecturer. Data collected were analysed by using X² test.
Results: 42 questionnaires and assessment forms were completed and analysed. The result showed 71.1% of the parents were satisfied with the quality of dental care provided despite the students' performance outcomes were moderate (84.2%). There is no significant difference between parents' satisfaction and the quality of dental care provided by the dental students (p>0.05). Mother showed higher percentage of satisfaction (60%) compared to father (36.4%). However, there is no significant relation between parents' satisfaction and the gender of the parents (p=0.076).
Conclusion(s): Generally, parents are satisfied with the dental care provided by the dental students at IIUM Paediatric Dental Clinic regardless of the quality. Hence, parents' satisfaction could not be the best tool to assess the quality of care provided by the operators.
KEYWORDS: parental's satisfaction, dental students, quality of dental care
Background: Recently many medical schools have incorporated Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) as part of their undergraduate teaching. The aim is to provide a firm base of EBM to the medical students early on, so that they can understand the importance of EBM. Medical schools are encouraged to teach EBM to students but yet the education setting, learner level, modes of instruction, skills covered and teaching methods are not standardised and varies worldwide. In Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences (CUCMS), EBM was incorporated in the curriculum since 2009. EBM concepts was taught formally to the MBBS students during four weeks Research and Evidence Based Medicine Course (REBM). Students were exposed to the various thinking processes, formulation of clinical questions, searching evidence, intermediate biostatistics, research methodology and critical appraisal. Besides that, Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and research proposal development also include in the course. The objective of this paper is to describe
CUCMS experience of teaching EBM for undergraduate medical students.
Methods: This report analysed students feedback using a questionnaire which included a Likert scale and open-ended questions.
Result: Overall, three batches of students gave positive feedbacks regarding the course with constructive suggestions on room for improvement.
Conclusion: From our first three years’ experience in conducting the course, we concluded that the four-week EBM course offered was practical in instilling EBM principles.
This research aimed to determine the correlation between level of depression, anxiety and stress among counselling students at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. This research adopted a correlational study with a quantitative approach in order to observe the correlation between the variables. Eighty six (86) respondents participated in this study. The study was conducted using Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) instrument. The result showed that there was a significant relationship between the level of depression, anxiety and stress among counselling students at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. This research also provides awareness towards the counselling students on their level of depression, anxiety and stress. For future research, it is suggested that personality test and scoring test be conducted for level of depression, anxiety and stress in order to see the correlations between variables.
A brief survey asked Malaysians if they had searched for information about illegal drugs and their thoughts about the information available. Two hundred and eighty participants from four states: Selangor, Penang, Malacca, and Johor filled out a paper-and-pencil survey including both multiple choice and open-ended written questions. Quantitative analyses of closed-ended, and thematic analyses of open-ended data indicated the following: Half of participants had, at some point, actively searched for information about drug use; 28% reported searching at least once per month. Participants generally (79%) preferred to obtain information online, but 62% also reported sharing and obtaining information about drugs in face-to-face interactions with friends and others. Concerns regarding the reliability of information, such as the presence of conflicting or contradictory messages from multiple sources, was a common theme in open ended responses. Of those who searched for information, about 70% reported desiring more detailed information about different drugs, in particular about their various side effects and risks. It is suggested that drug information campaigns, particularly those aimed at university students, might better focus on providing accurate, detailed information about the risks and other issues involved in various types of drug use, rather than one-size-fits-all messages. Given the varied and confusing nature of information already available, overly simplistic anti-drug messages may be ineffective, if not counterproductive.
Games are an increasingly popular approach for conservation teaching. However, we know little about the effectiveness of the games on students' experiences and knowledge acquisition. Many current games are supplemental games (SG) that have no meaningful interaction with the subject matter. We adapted the experiential gaming (EG) model where students were immersed in goal-orientated tasks found in real-life situations, and they tackled questions to complete actions for their main task. Classroom-based games were created for eight different conservation topics for an annual Wildlife Conservation Course and an annual Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice. Data were collected over two cycles, a total sample size of 55 multinational students. We used a combination of repeated-measures design and counterbalanced measures design; each student was subjected at least twice to each of the EG and didactic instruction (DI) treatments, and at least once to the SG approach. We compared students' perception, learning and behavioural responses to the treatments, including measures of student personality types and learning styles as explanatory variables. Findings revealed multiple benefits of the classroom EG compared to the DI approach, such as increased attention retention, increased engagement and added intrinsic motivation. The improved level of intrinsic motivation was mainly facilitated by increased social bonding between participants. Further, we show that this EG approach appeals to a wide range of learning styles and personalities. The performance of SG was generally intermediate between that of EG and DI. We propose EG as a beneficial complement to traditional classroom teaching and current gamified classes for conservation education.
Introduction: The Medical Faculty of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) aims to produce good Muslim
doctors (GMD) who are able to practise medicine that is integrated with Islamic values. Islamic courses and
Medical Ethics are integrated into the curriculum in its effort to provide adequate Islamic knowledge and
nurturing professionalism as a process of personal and professional development (PPD) within the framework
of Islamic teaching. The objective of the study was to evaluate the perception of graduates and students of
characteristics of a GMD. Method: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to the participants. The
respondents were asked to rate their level of agreement or disagreement on the statements that represent
the characteristics of a GMD. Statistical analysis of the data was carried out using SPSS version 18.0. The
mean, median and inter quartile ranges of the characteristics were determined and differences between the
groups were analysed using Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Results showed significant difference between
gender for the item “Conscious of professional ethics” (p=0.021). Significant differences were seen in the
median scores between the graduates and the final year students in four out of six items for personal
characteristic. Conclusion: Islamic input in the medical curriculum and the teaching of professionalism has
an impact on graduate perception of characteristics of a GMD. Further improvement in the teaching of
professionalism among undergraduates is necessary in order to promote greater impact on the understanding
and internalization of characteristics of a GMD. The Islamic input in the medical curriculum can thus be
regarded as the blueprint for PPD of medical undergraduates to become a GMD.
Introduction: The Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) has been widely used as a tool to
detect eating disorders. We aimed to identify the EDE-Q normative data among secondary school students in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study involving four secondary schools in an
urban area. The respondents of secondary school students were selected using stratified sampling. Results:
There were 298 teenagers 12 to 17 years of age who participated in the study. The EDE-Q mean scores ±
standard deviation was 1.27 ± 1.08 for the total score (Global Score), 0.78 ± 0.95 for Restraint Domain, 1.02
± 1.03 for Eating Concern, 1.76 ± 1.55 for Shape Concern and 1.54 ± 1.43 for Weight Concern. Conclusion:
Mean values obtained from this study were relatively lower when compared to western populations. Shape
Concern and Weight Concern had higher scores compared to the other domains. These values are useful for
EDE-Q interpretation in Malaysia.
Electricity has become one of the necessities for human daily activities. The presence of electric
current produces electromagnetic fields (EMF) at extremely low frequency (ELF). The problem arises
when scientists suggests a possible connection between ELF exposure to human health and safety.
Concerned about the safety and health of students and staff, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
took the initiative to identify possible ELF sources and measure their exposure in various locations
around the UKM main campus in Bangi. This paper reports the results obtained from the monitoring
of the magnetic flux density at three identified locations in the vicinity of the overhead high-voltage
transmission line which transverses the university compound and compare the maximum value results
with the exposure limit suggested by the International Committee on Non Ionising Radiation
Protection (ICNIRP) for ELF. Measurements were done with an (Extech) Three Axis
Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Meter (Model 430826) to determine the magnetic flux density. The
lateral profile method was applied as the standard measurement methodology. Results showed that the
maximum value of the magnetic flux density was 12.5 mG, which is below the suggested ICNIRP
public exposure limit of 1000 mG, or in percentage ratio, 1.25% of ICNIRP public exposure limit.
Results from the statistical Kruskal-Wallis test showed that there is a significant difference in the
distributions of the magnetic flux densities at the different locations (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the
measured locations are still safe for people in short-term exposure. However, long-term exposure
measurements still need to be done to provide concrete data on the ELF-emission levels in UKM.
Background: Clinical reasoning is the name given to
the cognitive processes by which doctors evaluate and
analyse information from patients. It is a skill developed
by experiential learning and is difficult to assess
objectively. The script concordance test, an assessment
tool introduced into the health sciences about 15 years
ago, is a way of assessing clinical reasoning ability in
an objective manner and allows comparisons of the
decisions made by medical students and experts in
situations of uncertainty.
Methods: Twenty-six final year medical students from
the International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur,
were tested on their decision making skills regarding a
young febrile patient. The students evaluated different
pieces of information in five different scenarios and
made decisions on a five-point Likert scale in the
standard format of the script concordance test. Their
decisions were compared to the decisions of a panel of
experienced clinicians in Internal Medicine.
Results: The script concordance test scores for the
different scenarios were calculated with higher scores
being indicative of greater concordance between the
reasoning of students and doctors. The students showed
poor concordance with doctors in evaluating clinical
information. Overall, only 20 percent of the choices
made by students were the same as the choices made by
the majority of doctors.
Conclusion: Medical students vary in their ability to
interpret the significance of clinical information. Using
the script concordance test, this preliminary study looked
at the ability of final year medical students to interpret
information about a patient with a febrile illness. The
results showed poor concordance between students and
doctors in the way they interpreted clinical information.
The script concordance test has the potential to be a
tool for teaching and assessing clinical reasoning.
Background: Medical schools are escalating changes
to meet the need for doctors competent to work in the
era of precision medicine. Information on the current
level of awareness of precision medicine among medical
students can help effect the necessary changes in the
medical curriculum. A cross-sectional comparative
study was done to assess the knowledge, attitude and
perception toward the practice of precision medicine
among junior and senior medical students in a medical
school in Malaysia.
Materials and Method: A survey instrument measuring
attitude toward precision medicine, perceived
knowledge of genomic testing concepts, and perception
toward ethical consideration related to precision
medicine, was distributed to junior and senior medical
students. Comparisons were made between senior and
junior medical students.
Results: Only about one-third of the 356 respondents
had heard of precision medicine although 92.7%
expressed interest to learn more about precision
medicine. Overall, junior and senior medical students
had positive attitude toward the adoption of genomeguided
prescribing and precision medicine but were
uncomfortable with their knowledge of genomic testing
concepts. Both junior and senior students were largely
well grounded in their understanding of ethical issues
related to precision medicine.
Conclusions: Knowledge of precision medicine was low
among junior and senior medical students. Although
the students supported the use of precision medicine,
they did not feel adequately prepared to apply genomics
to clinical practice. Their perceptions on ethical issues
related to precision medicine were sound. Seniority did
not appear to influence the perceptions of the students.