Emergency preparedness: supporting continuity of teaching and learning in nursing education (a mini review)

Natural disasters, human disasters like global pandemic diseases, natural disasters, man-made tragedies, war conflicts, and social crises have disrupted the education of 75 million students globally. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, education has been overwhelmed by 1.53 billion learners out of faculties and 184 country-wide school closures, and also, 87.6% of the world's total enrolled learners are impacted (Education Cannot Wait - ECW, 2020). A lot of institutions have to cancel all face-to-face classes, including labs and other learning experiences, and then move their courses into an online mode to help in preventing the spread of COVID-19 virus. As the result, the research question came out that how emergency preparedness for students to continue their education during this pandemic period. This mini-review paper will discuss emergency preparedness in education to continue student's learning through online learning and how online learning effects on nursing education

Nurse managers’ perspectives on nurses’ performance in mentorship program

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the nurse managers’ perspectives on nurses’ performance in a mentorship program. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 51 nurse managers in Hospital Tengku Am- puan Afzan (HTAA), Kuantan, Pahang, by using modified and self-developed questionnaire with the Cronbach’s alpha value 0.994. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics such as central tendency, frequency and percentage. Results: The gender of respondents was predominantly female (100%). The mean age is 45.41 (SD ± 4.51). In terms of level of education, the majority of the respondents (76.5%) were having a diploma. The majority has been in practice as a staff nurse between 11 to 20 years, and most of them have been practicing as nurse managers for about five years and less. Meanwhile, re- sults showed that the nurse managers had positive perceptions upon newly graduated nurses’ performance in the mentorship program, concerning on their effective communication, profes- sional development and creative thinking. Conclusions: It is vital to identify the effectiveness of the mentorship program among nurses; hence, it enhances job satisfaction among new nurses

Reliability and validity of the Objective Structured Clinical Assessment (OSCA) in undergraduate nursing program

Clinical assessment is the one of the essential components in assessing student’s competency in nursing curriculum. There are various types of clinical assessment to measure the competency level of skills in nursing students. Nevertheless, the reliability and validity of the assessment is still unclear in the area of skill assessment, problem solving, knowledge and patient management. Objective structure clinical Examination (OSCE) is a reliable and valid method in evaluating nursing students’ clinical skill. However, problems with regard the OSCEs appeared because the assessment only focusing on the dexterity rather than focusing on the holistic care to the patient. Therefore, new method approach, objective structure clinical assessment (OSCA) was established. This study sought to identify the extent of reliability and validity of this OSCA assessment in the Faculty of Nursing at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). The applicability of this assessment OSCA was also explored by assessing immediate nursing students' feedback regarding this exam. A total of 53 nursing students from the final year was drawn from a purposive random sampling. A self-developed checklist of procedures and feedback questionnaire adapted from another well-known OSCA’s study was used as research instruments. The results showed that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between the two examiners in all stations (rs of station 1=0.968; p=0.0001, rs of station 2=0.811; p=0.0001 and rsof station 3=0.728; p=0.005, rs of station 4=0.837; p= 0.003). Moreover, the reliability of the OSCA stations was measured using Cronbach α to evaluate the internal consistency of each station. The internal consistency of OSCA stations was statistically significant and highly reliable as Cronbach α was higher than 0.7 in three stations among four exam stations. The findings indicated that the OSCA examination was a reliable and valid method in assessing undergraduate nursing students. The running cost of the OSCA is outweighed by the educational benefits, examiners’ satisfaction as well as students’ satisfaction

Pharmacists' perception on medication errors in intensive care unit

Introduction:Medication error is a global issue. A medication error is one of the medical errors that can result from mild to severe complications which may violate patient safety. A holistic approach is important to prevent medication error includes contributed factor, reporting system and training for staffs. Objective:This research sought to determine the pharmacists' perception of medication errors in the intensive care unit. Methodology:This descriptive cross-sectional study involved 132 pharmacists from two hospitals in state of Pahang, Malaysia. A self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect the data. Statistical analysis of the data was carried out using SPSS and association between variables was analyzed using one way ANOVA and multiple regression tests. Result: The findings show that interruptions (x=̅3.40) as the commonest cause of dispensing errors perceived by pharmacists, followed by pharmacists fatigue at any cause (x ̅= 3.20) and pharmacist overwork (x=̅3.17). Besides, 51% of participants practice dispensing less than 10 hours per week on average. 54% and 55% of participants believe the increase of risk of error in dispensing and actual errors become more common in pharmacy practice, respectively. The results also showed that only level of education has a significant association with possible factors in dispensing medication among the pharmacists at the hospital (P=0.000). Besides, multiple regressions showed no significant relationship between both dependent variables. Conclusion: Most of the pharmacist perceived those possible factors associated with dispensing error. This study suggests that pharmacists should be well informed regarding dispensing error in order to be more alert. Besides, future study should be more specific on pharmacists who assigned to the in-patient department

Development of a disaster kit based on a cultural context for flood disaster relief and preparedness

Introduction: Flood disaster is a natural disaster that has unexpectedly occurred again. Community cooperation in terms of managing flood and focusing on families’ needs has become more systematic. It is important for a household to be prepared in any disaster. One of the preparations that should be done is the stockpiling of emergency supplies or flood supply kits during evacuation. This study aimed to develop a specific disaster kit for households for evacuation during a flood disaster based on cultural context. Methods: Data were collected from 75 key informants from every level of households that really have a great experience during the flood disaster that helping family packing for a living needs before evacuation. The development of the disaster kit based on cultural needs and all their views, needs, experiences, challenges, frustration and happiness was obtained from the interview sessions. Results: There are five themes that emerged from this research related to developing a disaster kit. The themes are community preparedness in dealing with flood disaster, hygiene issues during the flood, inadequate food supply, how the community responds to insufficient water supply, and coping method with illness. After being finalized, there are seven kits: a general supplies kit, documentation kit, emergency food and water supply kit, prayer kit, hygiene kit, basic first aid kit, and baby kit. Conclusion: The development disaster kit was created to help the communities to be more aware and prepared before disaster strike

Factors influencing on nurses’ responses during flood disaster

Nurses have a crucial role in any disaster situation and must respond effectively to fulfil their responsibilities. The aim of this study is to explore the factors that contribute and hinder nurses. effective responses during the flood in the East Coast region of Malaysia. An exploratory qualitative design was used in this study. Seven nurses from two hospitals were included in the semi-structured interviews who were chosen by purposive sampling and snowball sampling. Data were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Four major themes emerged including accessibility of resources, knowledge about flood disaster management, support system, and willingness to participate in disaster management. As a result, there is a need to conduct flood disaster management training to prevent the possible factors that may contribute to the ineffective nursing role during flood disaster in Malaysia

The development of massive open online course (MOOC) in traditionally taught course of emergency nursing among nursing students: a concept paper

Education plays an important role in the development of a country and is only the bridge to create the better future of citizens. As technology is a very powerful tool in education, it provides new and innovative forms of support to teachers, students and the learning process more broadly. As web-based education and technology integration continue to increase, innovative approach to deliver online learning will also occur. One of the approach is Massive open online course (MOOC) and it is a technological based learning tool that is recently emerged in the higher educational landscape to provide additional learning opportunities for learners, teachers and educational institutions. The use of MOOCs in nursing education is currently under evaluated area of pedagogy, with only an emerging evidence base to support the wider integration into relevant undergraduate curricula. Although MOOCs have been available for almost a decade, and courses continually becoming available on commercial platforms, there remains a paucity of empirical evidence to support their utilization. Specifically, in nursing education, numerous roles for MOOCs have been proposed for both on- and off-campus learning, however, a clear rationale for their effective utilization is still nascent. This study aims to develop MOOC course and investigate the effectiveness of this integrated MOOC course of emergency nursing subject among nursing students. In addition, this study goes to identify the experiences of students and lecturers in this MOOC course. The course will be developed by applying the phases of Design Developmental Research (DDR) method such as phase 1- need analysis, phase 2- design and development, phase 3- implementation and evaluation. This study will contribute the critical thinking skills and innovative ideas among nursing students thus enhancing the students' learning abilities and equips the nursing students with innovation concepts and creative skills for an ever changing technologically-driven health care environment

Examining pharmacy students’ stress level during first academic year

Most of the studies' findings explored that the prevalence of stress is increasing among university students. Student retention, student progression and graduate on time (GOT) are becoming critical issues in all universities. There are a significant number of studies that have examined the stress level of students using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). PSS is the most widely used psychological instruments for measuring the perception of stress. This study sought to identify the stress level among first year pharmacy students of faculty of pharmacy, and then might to compare perceived stress scale between male and female students by using this PSS score measurement. A cross-section descriptive study was done at Faculty of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Ninety-eight first year pharmacy students were chosen by a convenience sampling method and then measured their stress level during their first academic year using perceived stress score (PSS). Data was analyzed by SPSS version 12.0 and ethical approval was taken from Kulliyyah (Faculty) of Pharmacy research committee (KPRC), the IIUM Research and ethics community (IREC), Student's Affairs office of Kulliyyah (Faculty) of Pharmacy and first year pharmacy students from Kulliyyah (Faculty) of Pharmacy. The study findings showed that most of the students were female, 74.5% and mostly they had experienced in staying at the hostel during their school life. Most participants came from middle class family. This study found that female students' PSS score was higher than male students' PSS scores (T-test of PSS Score in Female Students (mean (SD) of PSS score 27.44± 5.19 while T- test of PSS Score in male students (mean± (SD) PSS score 24.26± 6.53). These findings provide a better understanding that the stress level and contributing factors experienced by first-year pharmacy students. Finally, it is recommended that there is needed to search the relevant ways to help them in their studies and future career

An analysis of benefits to women from different financial services : case study in Meiktila district, Mandalay region

This analysis focuses on women’s inclusion in financial services, and the factors that influence their ability to access financial resources. It traces patterns in the development of, and access to microcredit programs and their effects on women’s (and their children’s) lives. Women in the Mandalay region of Myanmar were interviewed (2019) regarding microcredit financing and access, the effects on poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, and any social benefits accrued through an increase in household income

Health and flood: hidden dangers and challenges of flood disaster

Floods are the most common natural disaster and the highest fatality rate among the natural disaster around the world. The health impacts of floods are wide ranging, and depend on many factors. The physical and mental health may be affected during and after flooding. With that, it is important to be aware that the impact on health due to floods and there is needed to implement a comprehensive management in preparedness, response and recovery phase of flood disaster management to reduce the adverse effects of floods as well as for the ffectiveness of public health intervention. The purpose of this paper was to illustrate the health impacts of floods and to explore the hidden dangers and challenges during and aftermath of flood disaster. The reviewed literature for this paper was based on the related data sources of floods,flooding, disasters, extreme events, health impacts, floods and health, health impacts of flood in PubMed, Google scholar and research gate within fifteen years. In this paper, the health impacts due to flooding from different dimensions such as impacts of physical health and mental health have been discussed and then explored the hidden dangers and challenges during and aftermath of the flood disaster. During the flood and its aftermath, there are also threats to an individual’s health and safety. It is strongly suggested that enhanced public health planning and interventions could focus on the precise practices and mechanisms that intersect to produce anxiety, stress, and their amelioration at individual and community levels