Faktor-faktor yang berkaitan mutu penjagaan pesakit yang menjalani pembedahan utama di Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia

This study was conducted to determine the factors that affect the quality of patient care in the Hospital USM Kubang Kerian, Kelantan. A total of 145 nurses and 75 patients is involved in this study. The questionnaire which consists of nurse workload index (NWI-R) and environmental complexity scale (ECS) was distributed to be completed by the nurses. Meanwhile, the number of hours for patient care was assessed by using checklist PRN – 80. The objective of this study was to investigate the factors which affect the quality of patient care who undergo major surgery at Hospital USM. Statistical method that was used to test the hypothesis were frequency, reliability test and spearman correlation. The result illustrated that work satisfaction at moderate level was 62.8% and no changes in quality of patient care was 53.1%. The highest maltreatment experienced by nurses was in terms of emotional, 47.6% and 27.9% was caused by their colleagues. The highest average workloads of nurses was 6.30 for nursing autonomy, nursing leadership was 6.20, 6.15 for control over nursing practice, 5.81 for relationship between nurses and doctor and 4.33 for adequate resources. The result also showed that 79.3% of the workloads increased when there were students in the ward, while 73.9% showed that there were patient acuity changes and 68.2% was when it is necessary to perform work reorganisation. There was a correlation between patients’ demographics and nurses’ workloads (r = -0.429, p<0.01), the correlation between patient acuity changes and communication with the doctors was significant (r = 0.385, p<0.01) and the delay of the procedures to the patients (r = 0.449, p<0.01). There was also a significant correlation between emergency leave and dissatisfaction with the current task (r = -0.169, p<0.05) and also intention to leave the profession (r = 0.169, p<0.05). Besides that, there was a significant correlation for the factors of autonomy and physical harm (r = -0.245, p<0.01) and also threats (r = -0.217, p<0.01). The relationship between nurses and doctors was significant with physical harm (r = -0.313, p<0.01) and threats (r = - 0.261, p<0.01). Other than that, the correlation between the task which was performed late and physical threats was significant (r = -0.186, p<0.05) and threats (r = -0.232, p<0.01). There was also a significant correlation between the task which was not done during the shifts and physical harm (r = 0.221 p<0.01), threats (r = 0.210, p<0.05) and emotional abuse (r = 0.236, p<0.01). The intention to leave the profession showed a significant correlation with physical abuse (r = 0.227, p<0.01) and threats (r = 0.225, p<0.01). In conclusion, workloads and nursing working environment affect the quality of patient care

Thermal analysis of quaternary molten nitrate salts mixture for energy recovery system

Quaternary molten salt nitrate have been used very practically as medium for energy storage or heat transfer fluid in terms of energy recovery system. Quaternary molten salt nitrate is a mixture that can transfer heat to generate energy such as electricity. Mixed alkaline molten nitrate salt can act as a heat transfer fluid due to their advantageous in terms of heat recovery system due to high specific heat capacity, low vapour pressure, low cost and wide range of temperature in its application. This studies shows about determining the new composition of quaternary molten nitrate salts from different primary salts that can possibly give a high specific heat capacity with low melting point. The mixture of quaternary molten nitrate salts was then heated inside the box furnace at 150oC for four hours and rose up the temperature to 400oC for eight hours. Through heating process, the quaternary molten nitrate alkaline was completely homogenized. The temperature was then dropped to room temperature before removing the mixture from the furnace. The specific heat capacities of each sample were determined by using Differential Scanning Calorimeter, DSC. From the result of DSC testing, Sample 6 gives the highest point of specific heat capacity and low melting point which is 0.4648 J/goC and 97.71oC respectively. In the nut shell, Sample 6 was chosen as a good mixture with good thermal properties that has a low melting point which is below 100oC but high specific heat capacity that may be a helpful in the application energy recovery system

Validity and Reliability of the Malay Versions of Bloating Severity (BSQ-M) and Quality of Life (BLQoL-M) Questionnaires

Abdominal bloating (AB) is a prevalent and bothersome symptom, but there are no specific measures for severity and quality of life (QoL) other than the Bloating Severity Questionnaire (BSQ) and Bloating Quality of Life (BLQoL). We aimed to translate the BSQ and BLQoL into the Malay language and to validate them using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) approaches. The 12-item BSQ has two components, seven-item severity in general (SevGen) and five-item severity in the past 24 h (Sev24), and BLQOL has five items. Translation to the Malay language (BSQ-M and BLQoL-M) was performed using standard forward and backward processes. EFA followed by CFA were performed in participants with AB due to functional bowel disorders, with the purpose of examining the validity and reliability of the questionnaires translated into Malay. After EFA with 152 participants, all the items of BSQ-M remained in the model. Total variance extracted was 53.26% for BSQ-M and 58.79% for BLQoL-M. The internal consistency based on Cronbach’s alpha values was 0.52 for SevGen, 0.86 for Sev24, and 0.81 for BLQoL-M. After performing CFA with another 323 participants, the final measurement model for BSQ-M and BLQoL-M fit the data well in terms of several fit indices (BSQ-M: root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.050, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.966, Tucker–Lewis Fit Index (TLI) = 0.956, and standardized root mean squared residual (SRMR) = 0.051; BLQoL-M: RMSEA = 0.071, CFI = 0.985, TLI = 0.962, SRMR = 0.021). The composite reliability for BSQ-M and BLQoL-M were satisfactory (SevGen = 0.83, Sev24 = 0.89, BLQoL = 0.80). The intraclass correlation (ICC) results showed excellent stability for BSQ-M and BLQoL-M, ranging from 0.74 to 0.93. The Malay language versions of BSQ-M and BLQoL-M are valid and reliable instruments for measuring the severity and QoL of AB for the Asian population with functional bowel disorders