MyMedR

Ibrahim MI

World Health Forum, 1996;17(4):409-10.

A small survey in Peninsular Malaysia indicates a marked tendency among the general population to treat minor ailments by self-medication with over-the-counter drugs and/or traditional medicines. The use of over-the-counter drugs appears to be favoured for skin conditions, general health care, aches and pains, and problems affecting the eyes, ears, mouth, gastrointestinal tract and respiratory tract. A doctor is usually consulted if self-medication fails.

Management of diarrhoea cases by community pharmacies in 3 cities of Pakistan

Hussain A, Ibrahim MI

East Mediterr Health J, 2012 Jun;18(6):635-40.

PMID: 22888622

Community pharmacies are valued for their potential role in the management of common ailments. This cross-sectional study aimed to document the management of diarrhoea by community pharmacies in 3 cities in Pakistan. Visits were performed to 371 randomly selected pharmacies to request advice for a simulated paediatric case of diarrhoea. The pharmacy's management was scored on a checklist including history taking and provision of advice and information. Customers were served by a salesperson in 97.3% of visits and by a pharmacist in only 2.2%. Medication was dispensed in 77.1% of visits. Of the medications dispensed, 58.7% were antiamoebics, 14.0% antibiotics and 18.9% antidiarrhoeals; only 8.4% were oral rehydration salts. None of the regimens matched with a standard prescription. The dosage regimen was explained to the customer in only 52.6% of cases. Drug safety, unqualified personnel, lack of history taking, inappropriate treatment and lack of counselling are concerns to be addressed.

Fulltext Polypharmacy in the management of patients with schizophrenia on risperidone in a tertiary-care hospital in Malaysia

Jacob S, Ibrahim MM, Mohammed F

Ment Health Fam Med, 2013 Jan;10(1):37-43.

PMID: 24381653

The present study was conducted primarily to determine the occurrence of polypharmacy in patients with schizophrenia on risperidone. The secondary aim was to ascertain the incidence of inappropriate prescribing with anticholinergics. A retrospective review of the medical records of all patients who were being followed up at the out-patient clinic of a tertiary-care hospital in Malaysia was conducted. Only patients who were being prescribed risperidone between 1 June 2008 and 31 December 2008 were included in the study. Demographic data such as patient's age, gender and race were obtained from the patient's medical records. In total, 113 patients met the selection criteria. Polypharmacy was found to occur in 34 patients (30.09%), with the majority (76.47%) being on two antipsychotics. In total, 27 patients (34.18%) on monotherapy with risperidone were prescribed an anticholinergic on scheduled dosing, while 19 patients (24.05%) were prescribed it on an as-needed basis. Of the patients on polypharmacy, 26 (76.47%) were on scheduled dosing of anticholinergics, while three (8.82%) were taking the medication on an as-needed basis. Polypharmacy should be avoided, and the use of anticholinergics should be closely reviewed. By adopting more efficient prescribing practices, costs can be reduced and financial resources can instead be channelled towards more beneficial areas for the patients.
Study site: Psychiatric clinic, tertiary hospital, Malaysia

Evaluation of angiotensin II receptor blockers for drug formulary using objective scoring analytical tool

Lim TM, Ibrahim MI

Pharm Pract (Granada), 2012 Jul;10(3):136-42.

PMID: 24155829

Drug selection methods with scores have been developed and used worldwide for formulary purposes. These tools focus on the way in which the products are differentiated from each other within the same therapeutic class. Scoring Analytical Tool (SAT) is designed based on the same principle with score and is able to assist formulary committee members in evaluating drugs either to add or delete in a more structured, consistent and reproducible manner.

Medication counselling and dispensing practices at community pharmacies: a comparative cross sectional study from Pakistan

Hussain A, Ibrahim MI

Int J Clin Pharm, 2011 Oct;33(5):859-67.

PMID: 21853362 DOI: 10.1007/s11096-011-9554-6

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to assess and compare medication counselling and dispensing practices at community pharmacies in three major cities of Pakistan.

METHODS: A total of 1113 patient dispenser interactions were observed from a randomly selected sample of 371 pharmacies by using convenient sampling technique in the three respective cities namely Islamabad (118), Peshawar (120) and Lahore (133). The data collection tool was adapted from WHO structure observation form and was modified according to the objectives of the study.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The process of prescription handling at community pharmacies in terms of patient dispenser interaction, prescription validation and medication counseling was assessed. The data was coded, entered and analyzed by using SPSS Version 16.

RESULTS: A total of 1113 patient dispenser interactions were observed at the community pharmacies in the three respective cities namely Islamabad (n = 354), Peshawar (n = 360) and Lahore (n = 399). Out of 1113 patient/dispenser interactions the providers present at the community pharmacies were; pharmacist (degree of B-pharm/pharm D) 1.6% (n = 18), pharmacy assistant (diploma in pharmacy) 7% (n = 78), diploma holder (certified course of drug dispensing) 5.6% (n = 62) and salesmen (no medicine related education) 85.8% (n = 955).There was no significant difference in the practice between pharmacists, pharmacy assistants, diploma holders and salesmen. Prescription validation was carried out in 18% (n = 206) of the cases, drugs verification in 32% (n = 360) of the cases while labelling of drugs was performed in only 6% (n = 76) of the cases. Completely counselling about medication was provided in 3.1% (n = 35) of the cases while no counselling at all was given in 52.7% (n = 582) of the cases.

CONCLUSION: The process of medication counselling and dispensing practices at community pharmacies in Pakistan is not satisfactory. The patients are largely handled by unqualified salesmen. Thus there is a strong need to improve medication counselling and dispensing practices at community pharmacies by improving the skills of the dispensers through a mix of interventions, and law should be implemented to ensure presence of qualified person which in turn will result in the provision of better patient oriented services at community pharmacies.

Qualification, knowledge and experience of dispensers working at community pharmacies in Pakistan

Hussain A, Ibrahim MI

Pharm Pract (Granada), 2011 Apr;9(2):93-100.

PMID: 24688615

Pharmacies are managed by a variety of dispensers in terms of qualification, knowledge and experience in Pakistan.

Are essential medicines in Malaysia accessible, affordable and available?

Saleh K, Ibrahim MI

Pharm World Sci, 2005 Dec;27(6):442-6.

PMID: 16341951 DOI: 10.1007/s11096-005-1318-8

OBJECTIVE: To assess the pharmaceutical sector to know whether people have access to essential medicines.

SETTING: The study was conducted in 20 public health clinics, five public district drug stores and 20 private retail pharmacies selected randomly in five different areas randomly selected (four states and a federal territory).

METHOD: The methodology used was adopted from the World Health Organization study protocol. The degree of attainment of the strategic pharmaceutical objectives of improved access is measured by a list of tested indicators. Access is measured in terms of the availability and affordability of essential medicines, especially to the poor and in the public sector. The first survey in the public health clinics and public district drug stores gathered information about current availability of essential medicines, prevalence of stock-outs and affordability of treatment (except drug stores). The second survey assessed affordability of treatment in public health clinics and private retail pharmacies.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Availability, stock-out duration, percent of medicines dispensed, accessibility and affordability of key medicines.

RESULTS: The average availability of key medicines in the public health clinics for the country was 95.4%. The average stock-out duration of key medicines was 6.5 days. However, average availability of key medicines in the public district drug stores was 89.2%; with an average stock-out duration of 32.4 days. Medicines prescribed were 100% dispensed to the patients. Average affordability for public health clinics was 1.5 weeks salary and for the private pharmacies, 3.7 weeks salary.

CONCLUSIONS: The present pharmaceutical situation in the context of essential medicines list implementation reflected that the majority of the population in Malaysia had access to affordable essential medicines. If medicines need to be obtained from the private sector, they are hardly affordable. Although the average availability of essential medicines in Malaysia was high being more than 95.0%, in certain areas in Sabah availability was less than 80.0% and still a problem.

Fulltext Medication noncompliance--a thriving problem

Aziz AM, Ibrahim MI

Med J Malaysia, 1999 Jun;54(2):192-9.

PMID: 10972029

A study was conducted among out-patients attending the Melaka Tengah Health Clinic to determine their compliance status towards antihypertensive, antidiabetic and antiasthmatic drugs. A total of 585 patients were enrolled in this study. Assessment of compliance was carried out using pill-counting and house-to-house interviews 14 days from the date of medication dispensed at the counter. The noncompliance rate among the 464 successfully interviewed patients was 56%. The mean noncompliance percentage was 78.0 +/- 43.1% (range: -10.0-314.3%). Among the four variables of compliance studied, race was not seen as a determinant of compliance. The older age group and those taking two or more drugs were statistically significant to be a noncomplier. Females were highly likely not to comply with drug therapy. Patients who conform to their refill dates were not really drug compliers. Forgetting to take their drugs and inability to read instructions on drug labels were the main reasons given. Underdosing was more common than overdosing, with an estimated cost of RM20,261.00 of unused medications per year.
Study site: Klinik Kesihatan Melaka Tengah, Melaka, Malaysia

Health professionals' knowledge, attitude and practices towards pharmacovigilance in Nepal

Palaian S, Ibrahim MI, Mishra P

Pharm Pract (Granada), 2011 Oct;9(4):228-235.

PMID: 24198861

BACKGROUND: Ozzzzzzzair.

OBJECTIVE: Ozzzzzzzair.

METHODS: Ozzzzzzzair.

RESULTS: Ozzzzzzzair.

CONCLUSIONS: Ozzzzzzzair.

Fulltext Parent's knowledge and management of their children's ailments in Malaysia

Dawood OT, Ibrahim MI, Palaian S

Pharm Pract (Granada), 2010 Apr;8(2):96-102.

PMID: 25132876

Minor ailments like sore throat, fever, cough and diarrhea can be relieved with over-the-counter (OTC) medications such as paracetamol or other traditional remedies, without seeking for consultation from general practitioners. Parents usually take the responsibility to come up with some kind of treatment for their children.

Teaching future health care professionals about the concept of essential medicines

Ahmed HM, Ibrahim MI

Med Teach, 2010;32(4):346-7.

PMID: 20369399

Medication storage and self-medication behaviour amongst female students in Malaysia

Ali SE, Ibrahim MI, Palaian S

Pharm Pract (Granada), 2010 Oct;8(4):226-32.

PMID: 25126145

OBJECTIVES:
The aims of this study are to determine the prevalence, attitudes and behaviours of medication storage and self-medication amongst female students at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).

METHODS:
A cross-sectional survey was conducted and cluster random sampling technique was used for respondent selection. A pre-piloted questionnaire was administered to female respondents so as to collect the data. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 12 and analysis was conducted using descriptive analysis procedures.

RESULTS:
Of the 481 participants (mean age; SD was 22.1; 3.3), 93.1% (n=448) students stated that they stored medicine in their rooms, while 70.7% (n=340) stated that they stopped taking a prescribed medicine without consulting a doctor. The prevalence of self-medication was 80.9% (n=389). The most common reasons for self-medication were related to their knowledge of their ailment and its treatment (58.0%), 14.4% thought it saved time and 8.5% mentioned that medication given by provider was not effective. The most common symptoms were otorhinolaryngology problems (22.5%), followed by respiratory disease (19.6%), Gastro Intestinal Tract (GIT) disease (18.1%) and headache/fever (16.8%). Commonly used medicines were analgesics & antipyretics (30.2%), ear, nose & throat drugs (10.8%), vitamins & minerals (10.8%), GIT drugs (8.5%), anti-infections (7.3%) and herbal medicines (3.5%). Prevalence of medicine storage and self-medication practice is high among educated female students in USM.

CONCLUSIONS:
There is a need to educate the students to ensure safe practice by increasing their awareness. Strict policies need to be implemented on the unrestricted availability of medicines so as to prevent the wastage of medicines.

Pattern of adverse drug reactions reported by the community pharmacists in Nepal

Palaian S, Ibrahim MI, Mishra P

Pharm Pract (Granada), 2010 Jul;8(3):201-7.

PMID: 25126141

The pharmacovigilance program in Nepal is less than a decade old, and is hospital centered. This study highlights the findings of a community based pharmacovigilance program involving the community pharmacists.

Pattern and quality of scientific communications on drug safety produced by a regional pharmacovigilance center in Nepal

Palaian S, Ibrahim MI, Mishra P

Pharm Pract (Granada), 2010 Jul;8(3):179-86.

PMID: 25126138

Analyzing the pattern and quality of scientific communications on pharmacovigilance can help the regional centers in Nepal and other developing countries to develop approaches for communicating effectively medicine safety issues. This kind of research is lacking in developing countries.

Systematic review of factors affecting pharmaceutical expenditures

Mousnad MA, Shafie AA, Ibrahim MI

Health Policy, 2014 Jun;116(2-3):137-46.

PMID: 24726509 DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2014.03.010

To systematically identify the main factors contributing to the increase in pharmaceutical expenditures.

Fulltext Medication errors among geriatrics at the outpatient pharmacy in a teaching hospital in kelantan

Abdullah DC, Ibrahim NS, Ibrahim MI

Malays J Med Sci, 2004 Jul;11(2):52-8.

PMID: 22973127 MyJurnal

The main aim of this study was to determine the medication errors among geriatrics at the outpatient pharmacy in a teaching hospital in Kelantan and the strategies to minimize the prevalence. A retrospective study was conducted that involved screening of prescription for a one-month period (March 2001). Only 15.35% (1601 prescription) of a total 10,429 prescriptions were for geriatrics. The prescriptions that were found to have medication errors was 403. Therefore, the prevalence of medication errors per day was approximately 20 cases. Generally, the errors between both genders were found to be comparable and to be the highest for Malays and at the age of 60-64 years old. Administrative errors was recorded to be the highest which included patient's particulars and validity of the prescriptions (70.22%) and drugs that available in HUSM (16.13%). Whereas the total of prescribing errors were low. Under prescribing errors were pharmaceutical error (0.99%) and clinical error (8.68%). Sixteen cases or 3.98% had more than 1 error. The highest prevalence went to geriatrics who received more than nine drugs (32.16%), geriatrics with more than 3 clinical diagnosis (10.06%), geriatrics who visited specialist clinics (37.52%) and treated by the specialists (31.07%). The estimated cost for the 403 medication errors in March was RM9,327 or RM301 per day that included the cost of drugs and humanistic cost. The projected cost of medication errors per year was RM 111,924. In conclusion, it is very clear that the role of pharmacist is very great in preventing and minimizing the medication errors beside the needs of correct prescription writing and other strategies by all of the heath care components.

Study site: Medical clinic, Hospital Universiti Saints Malaysia (HUSM), Kota Bahru, Kelantan.

Fulltext Level of Satisfaction on Service Quality Dimensions Based on SERVQUAL Model Among Patients Attending 1 Malaysia Clinic in Kota Bharu, Malaysia

Zun AB, Ibrahim MI, Hamid AA

Oman Med J, 2018 Sep;33(5):416-422.

PMID: 30210721 DOI: 10.5001/omj.2018.76

Objectives: Implemented in 2010, 1 Malaysia Clinic (1MC) is the latest innovation in public primary healthcare services in Malaysia to serve the urban population. This study aimed to assess the level of satisfaction and its associated factors using the SERVQUAL (SERV-service, QUAL-quality) instrument. We also sought to compare the difference of mean score between expectation and perception of SERVQUAL dimension among patients attending 1MC in Kota Bharu district, Malaysia.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included all nine 1MCs in the Kota Bharu district, Malaysia, and used the validated SERVQUAL questionnaire from Ministry of Health, Malaysia. The primary data was collected in January 2017. The sample size was proportionate to the average daily patient attendance for each clinic, and a simple random sampling method was applied to reduced selection bias. Satisfaction level was determined by the mean gap score of expectation and perception of the SERVQUAL dimension.

Results: A total of 386 patients were involved in this study (184 male and 202 female). Most were from the low socioeconomic group. Less than half of the patients were satisfied with the clinic services. The tangible dimension (service quality (SQ) gap: -0.25) was the most critical dimension among all five SQ dimensions assessed. The factors included low education level (adjusted odds ratio (adj. OR) 1.87; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06, 2.67; p = 0.024), monthly household income less than RM 3000 (adj. OR 2.97; 95% CI: 1.72, 5.51; p < 0.001), and frequency 3 3 visits (adj. OR 2.23; 95% CI: 1.44, 3.45; p < 0.001) had significant association with high level of satisfaction.

Conclusion: 1MC has achieved its objective to increase the accessibility of health services among the low-income population in urban settings. However, most patients were not satisfied with certain parts of the services. Thus, proper evaluation of the service gap is required for improvement of the service.

Fulltext Hand hygiene knowledge, perception, and self-reported performance among nurses in Kelantan, Malaysia: a cross-sectional study

Abd Rahim MH, Ibrahim MI

BMC Nurs, 2022 Jan 31;21(1):38.

PMID: 35101001 DOI: 10.1186/s12912-022-00820-6

BACKGROUND: Nurses interact with patients 24 hours a day, and this connection has the potential to raise the risk of infection transmission to patients. Nursing plays a vital role in pre-venting healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) by ensuring that hand hygiene (HH) practises are followed and maintained. The purpose of this study was to evaluate nurses' knowledge, perceptions, and self-reported HH performance scores, as well as their correlation, in tertiary care hospitals in Kelantan, Malaysia.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in all four Kelantan tertiary care hospitals from December 2019 to February 2020. A stratified random selection method was used to obtain a sample of 438 registered nurses. A validated WHO self-administered HH knowledge and perception questionnaire for healthcare personnel was used to measure HH knowledge, perception, and self-reported HH performance.

RESULTS: The mean (SD) score of knowledge was 15.08 (1.96) out of the total 25. The score of perception participants towards HH was 68.02 (10.14) out of the total 81 and the average self-reported HH performance was 87.58 (12.03) out of 100. Pearson's correlation analysis showed significant positive correlations between perception and knowledge scores; r (436) =0.17, p<0.001 and Perception and self-reported HH performance scores; r (436) =0.27, p<0.001.

CONCLUSIONS: There is a strong link between knowledge and perception scores. Lack of understanding of HH during patient care might lead to a negative perception, which can affect overall self-reported HH performance. The need of monitoring and maintaining HH knowledge among nurses was established in this study.

Cost evaluation of therapeutic drug monitoring of gentamicin at a teaching hospital in Malaysia

Ibrahim MI, Abdelrahim HE, Ab Rahman AF

Pharm Pract (Granada), 2014 Jan;12(1):372.

PMID: 24644520

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) makes use of serum drug concentrations as an adjunct to decision-making. Preliminary data in our hospital showed that approximately one-fifth of all drugs monitored by TDM service were gentamicin.

Fulltext Familiarisation of Children with Medicines and their Sources of Information

Dawood OT, Ibrahim MI, Abdullah AC

J Clin Diagn Res, 2014 Jan;8(1):329-30.

PMID: 24596809 DOI: 10.7860/JCDR/2014/6902.3898

Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 121 in total