Workplace violence experienced by nurses in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre

Lately, increasing workplace violence is a problem that requires serious attention by the management of the healthcare sector. This study was carried out to examine workplace violence experienced by nurses in the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre. It aimed to identify the category of nursing staff who formed the highest number of victims, the perpetrators and the common types of workplace violence. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out over a three month period on 55 nurses who had participated voluntarily in this study. The demographic data and data on the violent incident were collected by using a 21-item questionnaire. The reliability and validity with Cronbach’s alpha was 0.872. Information on the most common types of violence, victims and the perpetrators was also collected. The study revealed that workplace violence among the nursing staff was 3.7% with an average of 1.2% being abused per month and one nurse being abused every other day. The study also revealed that the staff nurses were the most common victims and the perpetrators were mainly the patients (40.6%) and the patients’ relatives (37.5%). The most common forms of violence were verbal abuse (31.9%) and verbal threat (23.7%). Physical violence was experienced by 44.4% of the victims. These results suggest that workplace violence is a serious problem which should be addressed in order to create a safe environment for the nurses

Diagnosing the Problem of Traditional Model of Teaching and Learning Medical Science Subjects in a Nursing Program of UKM

AbstractTeaching and learning of medical sciences in nursing was identified as the cause of anxiety among students, teachers and the organizations. The aim of this study was to determine the difficulties faced by nursing students in those modules. An action research was conducted on 1st and 2nd year of Bachelor of Nursing students. Results showed that, relationship between CGPA, students’ guide book (p= 0.021, 0.018), lectures timetable (p =0.032), lectures (p=0.034, 0.043) and learning package (p=0.008, 0.016) of physiology and biochemistry influenced the teaching and learning of medical science subjects

Uptake of heavy metal Cd(II) from aqueous solutions using brown algae Sargassum myriocystum

The uptake of brown marine algae, Sargassum myriocystum has been utilized for the exclusion of Cd(II) metal from wastewater. Various parameters such as solution pH, optimum temperature, biomass concentration, the contact time and agitation speed have been analyzed for the effective biosorption of Cd(II). Desorption studies of Cd(II) have been performed with various desorbent such as H3PO4, HNO3, HCL, H2SO4, NaOH, NaCl, and H2O among which 0.1M/L HCl is found to be the better desorbing agent. SEM-EDX and FTIR analyses were utilized for metal-algal interaction study. The thermodynamic parameters such as free energy change (ΔG°), enthalpy change (∆Hº) and entropy change (∆Sº) have been calculated through the Van’t Hoff plot. A positive value of 14.72 ∆S Jmol-1K-1, a negative value of free energy (ΔG°) and 42.21 kJ/mol of ∆H kJmol-1 at all the temperatures indicated that the process is feasible and spontaneous. Hence, S. myriocystum is an effective and prosperous cost-effective biosorbent approach for Cd(II) from various industrial wastes due to its fast sorption rate, high selectivity and great uptake capacity

Barriers to reporting postpartum hemorrhage at different levels of healthcare facilities in Nigeria: a qualitative study

Background: Maternal mortality reduction remains a world health priority. One of the causes of maternal death is bleeding after childbirth. However, little is known regarding barriers to reporting for postpartum hemorrhage care among postnatal women in Nigeria. Objective: This research aimed to understand the perceived barriers to reporting postpartum hemorrhage care experienced by women and healthcare workers in Birnin Kebbi, North west-Nigeria. Methods: Qualitative case research was employed in this study with face-to-face interviews among ten postnatal women who experienced bleeding and six healthcare workers. Data were collected from September to November 2021. The interviews were all audio-taped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis. NVivo Pro Version 12 was applied to organize further and manage the data. Results: Six themes were developed: (1) knowledge deficit, (2) poor attitudes, behaviors, and performances, (3) low socioeconomic status, (4) lack of healthcare personnel, (5) cultural norms, and (6) lack of access to healthcare facilities. Conclusion: The study findings might serve as input for healthcare policymakers and healthcare workers to improve health and reduce maternal mortality. Enhancing knowledge and awareness about reporting process is necessary to improve reporting for postpartum hemorrhage care among women. Training and continuous professional development of health care workers are also highly suggested to enhance the quality of care