Persepsi terhadap pembelajaran interprofesion di kalangan pelajar prasiswazah Sains Kesihatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Pembelajaran interprofesion (IPL) berlaku apabila pelajar dalam institusi yang terdiri daripada dua atau lebih bidang pengajian yang berbeza belajar bersama dan berkongsi pengetahuan mengenai profesion yang berbeza. IPL dipercayai mampu meningkatkan kerjasama di antara profesion yang berbeza selepas para pelajar tamat pengajian. Objektif kajian ini adalah membanding persepsi pelajar antara profesion yang berbeza. Responden terdiri daripada pelajar sebelas bidang profesion yang berbeza iaitu Perubatan, Kejururawatan, Pergigian, Farmasi, Terapi Carakerja, Dietetik, Audiologi, Sains Pertuturan, Fisioterapi, Optometri dan Pengimejan Diagnostik & Radioterapi (PDR). Responden dipilih secara rawak mewakili setiap tahun pengajian bagi setiap profesion untuk mengisi borang kaji selidik yang disediakan. Sebanyak 330 borang kaji selidik yang telah dikembalikan daripada 367 secara keseluruhan atau 90%. Daripada keputusan ANOVA sehala, kesemua profesion tidak menunjukkan persepsi yang berbeza secara bereerti dalam subskala pengetahuan (p = 0.11), amalan kerja berpasukan dan kerjasama (p = 0.23) dan kaedah memulakan IPL (p = 0.61). Walau bagaimanapun, subskala identiti professional dan kesediaan pendidikan interprofesion menunjukkan nilai yang bererti (p < 0.05). Daripada ujian post-hoc Turkey, didapati hanya pelajar Fisioterapi menunjukkan purata skor yang lebih tinggi (M = 4.35 ± 0.54) daripada pelajar Sains Pertuturan (M = 3.75 ± 0.59) dalam subskala identiti profesional manakala bagi subskala kesediaan pelajar untuk pendidikan interprofesion, hanya pelajar Fisioterapi mempunyai skor yang lebih tinggi (M = 4.15 ± 0.82) daripada pelajar Pengimejan Diagnostik & Radioterapi (M = 3.25 ± 0.83). Keputusan ujian T tidak bersandar mendapati bahawa pelajar bersetuju supaya IPL dilaksanakan di awal tahun pengajian dengan purata skor (M = 3.53 ± 1.029) untuk tahun 1 dan 2 pengajian berbanding (M = 3.34 ± 1.089) untuk tahun 3 hingga 5 pengajian. Hasil kajian menunjukkan pelajar mempunyai persepsi yang positif terhadap IPL berdasarkan nilai purata skor yang diperoleh iaitu melebihi 3.0 ke atas

Medication Therapy and Ramadan Fasting

Every year millions of Muslims observe fasting during the month of Ramadan. Abstaining from drink and food for a long period may affect the physiology of the body, pathology of diseases, and pharmacokinetics/ pharmacodynamics of medicines. Health professionals should assess the suitability of patients to observe fasting without compromising their health. Pharmacists can contribute by recommending alternative medicine, dosage form, route of administration, dosing regimen, educating patients on balanced diets and proper use of their medicines, as well as monitoring of the clinical outcomes. This article aims to familiarize the readers with the practice of Ramadan fasting and various aspects regarding drug therapy and Ramadan fasting.</p

A preliminary study on the effect of pharmacist counseling on awareness of and willingness to quit smoking in Malaysian population

Objectives: This paper presents an outcome of pharmacist counseling among Malaysian smokers for their awareness of and willingness to quit smoking. Method: It was a cross-sectional study during a 3-day public health campaign at a shopping complex. Each self-referred participant was asked to complete a questionnaire apart from the question regarding improvement, and if any in their awareness and willingness to quit smoking, were asked to respond after counseling. Pharmacists counseled each participant about smoking cessation strategies and smoking related diseases. The data were analyzed by v2 test. Results: Among respondents, 25.5% had been smoking for more than 10 years, 31% for 5–10 years, 25.4% for 2–5 years and 18.3% for 1–2 years. The participants declaring no awareness about smoking were 22.9%, with little awareness 44.3%, having moderate awareness 25.7% and with considerable awareness were 7.1%. After counseling, 4.1% revealed unawareness, 17.8% little awareness, 43.8% moderate and 34.2% had considerable awareness on the above aspects. The post counseling awareness on smoking was observed to be significantly higher (P<0.01). Among smokers studied, 67% showed willingness to quit smoking. Conclusion: Increase in awareness of and willingness to quit smoking reflect

Additional file 1: of Student preparedness characteristics important for clinical learning: perspectives of supervisors from medicine, pharmacy and nursing

Questionnaire on student preparedness for clinical learning-Supervisors’ perspective. (DOCX 26 kb

Influences on Malaysian Pharmacy students’ career preferences

Objectives. To identify and evaluate factors affecting the career preferences of fourth-year bachelor of pharmacy (BPharm) students in Malaysia in the presence of a 4-year period of mandatory government service. Methods. A validated self-administered questionnaire was used in this cross-sectional study to collect data from final-year BPharm students enrolled at 3 government-funded universities and 1 private university in Malaysia. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Results. Three hundred fourteen students responded (213 from public universities and 101 from the private university). Approximately 32% of public university students and 37% of private university students ranked their own interest in pharmacy as the reason for undertaking pharmacy degree studies; 40.4% of public and 19.8% of private university respondents stated that they would enter a nonpharmacy-related career upon graduation if given the choice. Public university students ranked hospital pharmacy as their choice of first career setting (4.39, p 5 0.001), while private students ranked community pharmacy first (4.1, p 5 0.002). On a scale of 1 to 5, salary received the highest mean score (3.9 and 4.0, p 5 0.854) as the extrinsic factor most influencing their career choice. Conclusions. Final-year students at Malaysian public universities were most interested in hospital pharmacy practice as their first career step upon graduation, while private university students were most interested in community pharmacy. The top 3 extrinsic factors rated as significant in selecting a career destination were salary, benefits, and geographical location

Pharmaceutical care issues identified by pharmacists in patients with diabetes, hypertension or hyperlipidaemia in primary care settings

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The roles of pharmacists have evolved from product oriented, dispensing of medications to more patient-focused services such as the provision of pharmaceutical care. Such pharmacy service is also becoming more widely practised in Malaysia but is not well documented. Therefore, this study is warranted to fill this information gap by identifying the types of pharmaceutical care issues (PCIs) encountered by primary care patients with diabetes mellitus, hypertension or hyperlipidaemia in Malaysia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study was part of a large controlled trial that evaluated the outcomes of multiprofessional collaboration which involved medical general practitioners, pharmacists, dietitians and nurses in managing diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia in primary care settings. A total of 477 patients were recruited by 44 general practitioners in the Klang Valley. These patients were counselled by the various healthcare professionals and followed-up for 6 months.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 477 participants, 53.7% had at least one PCI, with a total of 706 PCIs. These included drug-use problems (33.3%), insufficient awareness and knowledge about disease condition and medication (20.4%), adverse drug reactions (15.6%), therapeutic failure (13.9%), drug-choice problems (9.5%) and dosing problems (3.4%). Non-adherence to medications topped the list of drug-use problems, followed by incorrect administration of medications. More than half of the PCIs (52%) were classified as probably clinically insignificant, 38.9% with minimal clinical significance, 8.9% as definitely clinically significant and could cause patient harm while one issue (0.2%) was classified as life threatening. The main causes of PCIs were deterioration of disease state which led to failure of therapy, and also presentation of new symptoms or indications. Of the 338 PCIs where changes were recommended by the pharmacist, 87.3% were carried out as recommended.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study demonstrates the importance of pharmacists working in collaboration with other healthcare providers especially the medical doctors in identifying and resolving pharmaceutical care issues to provide optimal care for patients with chronic diseases.</p