Hypertension and smoking are established and independent risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. There are important inter-relationships between these two factors that may explain the aetiology of coronary heart disease. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of hypertension and smoking in a rural community setting in Malaysia, and to identify their associated factors. A cross sectional study was conducted among residents aged 15 years and above in Mukim Dengkil, Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia from June to October 1999. Systematic random sampling was used to select the respondents. Results: Five-hundred and seventy respondents agreed to participate giving a response rate of 86.7%. The overall prevalence of hypertension was 26.8%. The prevalence was 31.7% among males, and 23.5% among females. Factors found to be significantly associated with hypertension were males and age. The overall prevalence of smoking was 21.2%. The prevalence among males was 48.7%, where as the prevalence was only 2.6% among females. The factors associated with smoking were males, ethnicity with Malays showing the highest prevalence of 27.2% and age. However, there was no significant association between hypertension and smoking. The prevalence of hypertension in this study is high. However, the prevalence of smoking in this study was slightly lower compared to the result found by the 2nd Malaysian National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS2).
Background: Patients’ satisfaction with their nursing care is an important issue in assessing the quality
of nursing care. In Iran, cancer patients’ satisfaction at teaching hospitals of Tehran City has not been
investigated. Aim: A cross sectional study was conducted to determine the level and identify factors that contributed to patients’ satisfaction in nursing care provided at selected teaching hospitals in Tehran City, Islamic Republic of Iran. Method: A proportional stratified sampling method was used and data were collected via face-to-face interview based on a validated Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ). A total of 384 cancer patients aged 14 years and above were selected. Result: The majority of respondents were males (201, 52.4%), age group 45-54 years (102, 26.4%); employed (202, 52.6%) and with a family monthly income of US$200-500 (234, 60.9%).The majority (314, 81.8%) of respondents were hospitalized between 2 to 5 days, and most (204, 54.0%) of them were admitted to teaching hospital B of The University of Medical Science.1 A majority of the respondents (318, 82.8%) was satisfied with the nursing care provided, while the others (66, 17.2%) were not. Generally, most of the respondents were satisfied with the amount of information given by the nurses (294, 76.6%), technical quality (295, 76.8%), interpersonal relationship (371, 96.6%), and physical environment (267, 69.5%). There was a positive significant relationship between patients’ satisfaction and type of hospital ( 2=4.985; df=1; p=0.026, n=384). Using the University’s hospital type was found to be the best predictor for level of satisfaction. Conclusion: Most of the respondents were satisfied with the nursing care. However, the respondents suggested several improvements such as increasing the number of doctors, improving socioenvironment factors in terms of privacy and interpersonal relationship, and improving on the existing facilities. Further research is needed to study in depth the socio-cultural and environment parameters which are relevant to patients’ satisfaction with nursing care.
The Community Follow-up Project (CFUP) is a project where medical students choose a hospital in-ward patient during their clinical ward-based attachments and follow-up this patient's progress after discharge from the hospital. The students do a series of home visits and also accompany their patients for some of their follow-ups at the hospital, government clinics, general practitioners' clinics and even to the palliative care or social welfare centres. The students assess the physical, psychological and social impact of the illness on the patient, family and community. By following their patients from the time their patients were in the hospital and back to their homes and community, the students are able to understand in depth the problems faced by patients, the importance of communication skills in educating patients on their illness and the importance of good communication between primary, secondary and tertiary care.