Displaying all 4 publications

Abstract:
Sort:
  1. Mohd Zubir MZ, Holloway S, Mohd Noor N
    PMID: 32825736 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17176103
    BACKGROUND: It is estimated that 2% of the population in developing countries suffer from a chronic wound, making it a hidden phenomenon that is increasing as populations age. The ease of access to maggot therapy has made it increasingly attractive for implementation. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of maggot therapy as compared to hydrogel dressings in the healing of chronic wounds.

    METHODS: An electronic literature search until October 2019 was performed using Medline, Embase, and Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature. The eligibility criteria were chronic wound patients with an intervention that involved a comparison of any maggot species with hydrogel dressings.

    RESULTS: The full text of five studies, involving 580 patients with chronic wounds, was retrieved. Four studies used the Lucilia sericata species. The maggot therapy facilitated faster and more effective debridement of non-viable tissue. It enabled faster development of granulation tissue and increased reduction in the wound surface area compared to hydrogel dressings. Maggot therapy had no effect on disinfection or complete healing rate for the wound.

    CONCLUSION: Maggot therapy should be considered for faster wound debridement, granulation tissue development, and wound surface area reduction as well as in surgical contraindications. This review can be used as a guide to assist clinicians in identifying patients who may benefit from maggot therapy.

  2. Harith AA, Ab Gani MH, Griffiths R, Abdul Hadi A, Abu Bakar NA, Myers J, et al.
    Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2022 Sep 30;19(19).
    PMID: 36231783 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191912485
    The COVID-19 pandemic introduced significant novel risks for healthcare workers and healthcare services. This study aimed to determine the prevalence, trends, characteristics, and sources of COVID-19 infection among healthcare workers during the early COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysian hospitals. A cross-sectional study used secondary data collected from a COVID-19 surveillance system for healthcare workers between January and December 2020. Two surges in COVID-19 cases among healthcare workers in Malaysia were epidemiologically correlated to a similarly intense COVID-19 pattern of transmission in the community. The period prevalence of COVID-19 infection and the mortality rate among healthcare workers in Malaysia were 1.03% and 0.0019%, respectively. The majority of infections originated from the workplace (53.3%); a total of 36.3% occurred among staff; a total of 17.0% occurred between patients and staff; and 43.2% originated from the community. Healthcare workers had a 2.9 times higher incidence risk ratio for the acquisition of COVID-19 infection than the general population. Nursing professionals were the most highly infected occupational group (40.5%), followed by medical doctors and specialists (24.1%), and healthcare assistants (9.7%). The top three departments registering COVID-19 infections were the medical department (23.3%), the emergency department (17.7%), and hospital administration and governance (9.1%). Occupational safety and health units need to be vigilant for the early detection of a disease outbreak to prevent the avoidable spread of disease in high-risk settings. The transformation of some tertiary hospitals to dedicated COVID-19 care, the monitoring of new procedures for the management of COVID-19 patients, and appropriate resource allocation are key to successful risk mitigation strategies.
  3. Harith AA, Mohamed Z, Mohammad A, Lim KK, Reffin N, Mohd Fadzil M, et al.
    Med J Malaysia, 2023 Sep;78(5):653-660.
    PMID: 37775494
    INTRODUCTION: Healthcare drivers, including ambulance drivers, were less concerned about health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, with not only the risk of COVID-19 infection but also a higher risk of prolonged states of alertness, stress, burnout, fatigue and road traffic accident. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of stress and its associated factors among healthcare drivers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study employs a crosssectional study design and utilises self-reported data obtained from locally validated personal stress inventory questionnaires. The data collection period spanned from August 1 to 31, 2020. The study sample consisted of 163 healthcare drivers affiliated with the Negeri Sembilan State Health Department. The Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were the first used to determine the association between variables prior to conducting multiple logistic regression to predict the relationship between dependent and independent variables.

    RESULTS: In COVID-19's first year, 7.4% (n = 12) of healthcare drivers reported perceived stress with ambulance drivers reporting more stress (10.6%; n = 5) than non-ambulance drivers (6.0%; n = 7). Simple statistical analysis identified perceived stress significantly associated with household income, smoking status and performing on-call. Further analysis by multiple logistic regression found that perceived stress was significantly related to smoking (aOR 19.9, 95% CI: 1.86-213.90), and performing on-call (aOR 8.69, 95% CI 1.21-62.28). Nevertheless, no association was found between perceived stress and age, ethnicity, marital status, education, household income, co-morbidities, driving assignment, employment duration, needing a part-time job or motor vehicle accident history.

    CONCLUSION: The study found that the perceived stress amongst Malaysian healthcare drivers during the COVID-19 pandemic was relatively low. This could be due to fewer lifethreatening tasks, emergencies, assigned tasks and increase income due to overtime during the COVD-19 pandemic. The OSH team's efforts to provide consistent safety and health training, including stress management, may have contributed to the healthcare driver's ability to effectively manage the stressful circumstances encountered during the pandemic. In order to enhance salary competitiveness, employers should provide financial management education alongside subsidised housing and childcare provisions. Healthcare drivers who smoke should be taught different stress reduction techniques so that they can handle their stress in a healthy way.

  4. Zubir MZ, Noor AA, Mohd Rizal AM, Harith AA, Abas MI, Zakaria Z, et al.
    PLoS One, 2024;19(8):e0293694.
    PMID: 39141630 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293694
    The efficiency and productivity evaluation process commonly employs Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) as a performance tool in numerous fields, such as the healthcare industry (hospitals). Therefore, this review examined various hospital-based DEA articles involving input and output variable selection approaches and the recent DEA developments. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology was utilised to extract 89 English articles containing empirical data between 2014 and 2022 from various databases (Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Springer Link, and Google Scholar). Furthermore, the DEA model parameters were determined using information from previous studies, while the approaches were identified narratively. This review grouped the approaches into four sections: literature review, data availability, systematic method, and expert judgement. An independent single strategy or a combination with other methods was then applied to these approaches. Consequently, the focus of this review on various methodologies employed in hospitals could limit its findings. Alternative approaches or techniques could be utilised to determine the input and output variables for a DEA analysis in a distinct area or based on different perspectives. The DEA application trend was also significantly similar to that of previous studies. Meanwhile, insufficient data was observed to support the usability of any DEA model in terms of fitting all model parameters. Therefore, several recommendations and methodological principles for DEA were proposed after analysing the existing literature.
Related Terms
Filters
Contact Us

Please provide feedback to Administrator (afdal@afpm.org.my)

External Links