MATERIALS AND METHODS: Relevant, peer-reviewed, Englishlanguage articles on healthcare service quality in Malaysia were independently searched by the authors using the SCOPUS and EMERALD databases. Articles that do not directly address healthcare service quality within the Malaysian setting were excluded. Additional articles were identified from the reference lists of the selected articles and from Google search engine. A total of 43 out of 2,749 articles were selected.
RESULTS: Most of these studies (28 out of the 43 articles, 65.1%) in this scoping review used either the original or a modified version of SERVQUAL instrument to measure healthcare service quality. Significant positive relationships between tangibles, assurance and empathy with patient satisfaction were identified. As SERVQUAL primarily measures the functional dimension of service quality, this suggests that past studies on Malaysian healthcare services emphasised heavily on the functional dimension of healthcare service quality. Functional dimension refers to the expressive performance on how the healthcare service is rendered whereas technical dimension refers to the types of services rendered as well as its safety and efficacy.
CONCLUSION: A pertinent research gap identified in this review is the lack of studies that measure both technical and functional dimensions comprehensively. Future research should adopt a more holistic (incorporating both technical dimension and functional dimension) measurement of healthcare service quality.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective, observational study was conducted from March 2021 to March 2023, involving adult DV victims aged 18 years and above admitted to the One Stop Crisis Center (OSCC) of Sarawak General Hospital. Data were collected from the OSCC clerking sheet, focusing on the victims, perpetrators and the violence characteristics.
RESULTS: A total of 133 DV victims were analysed, with 25.6% being male victims. Although majority of the perpetrators in cases involving male victims were male perpetrators, there was a significantly higher number of female perpetrators in these male DV cases (i.e., 5 out of 34 cases,14.7%) compared to in female DV cases (4 out of 99 cases, 4.0%) (p = 0.05). The commonest type of relationship between the victims and perpetrators was spouses or ex-spouses (56.4%). Male victims had more cases involving weapons (67.6%) compared to female victims (26.3%), p < 0.001. The most affected anatomical region was the head and neck (63.9%) region although no significant differences were observed.
CONCLUSION: The study reveals that DV affects individuals across all societal classes and income groups. Although weapons were used more frequently in male DV cases, other injury characteristics and affected anatomical regions were not significantly different between genders, suggesting female perpetrators can inflict similar injuries as male perpetrators. Subgroup analysis showed that the majority of male victims faced abuse from their children or grandchildren, hinting at hidden geriatric abuse, that should be unmasked and treated as a separate entity.
METHODS: This study was designed in the form of cross-sectional analysis, in which, cancer survivors were recruited from the Sarawak General Hospital, the largest tertiary and referral public hospital in Sarawak. To capture the financial toxicity of the cancer survivors, the Comprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity (COST) instrument in its validated form was adopted. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the relationship between financial toxicity (FT) and its predictors.
RESULTS: The median age of the 461 cancer survivors was 56 while the median score of COST was 22.0. Besides, finding from multivariable logistic regression revealed that low income households (OR: 6.893, 95% CI, 3.109-15.281) were susceptible to higher risk of financial toxicity, while elderly survivors above 50 years old reported a lower risk in financial toxicity. Also, survivors with secondary schooling (OR:0.240; 95%CI, 0.110-0.519) and above [College or university (OR: 0.242; 95% CI, 0.090-0.646)] suffer a lower risk of FT.
CONCLUSION: Financial toxicity was found to be associated with survivors age, household income and educational level. In the context of cancer treatment within public health facility, younger survivors, households from B40 group and individual with educational attainment below the first level schooling in the Malaysian system of education are prone to greater financial toxicity. Therefore, it is crucial for healthcare policymakers and clinicians to deliberate the plausible risk of financial toxicity borne by the patient amidst the treatment process.