International Journal of Care Scholars (IJCS)
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Knowledge and Attitude on the Usage of Traditional Complimentary Medicine (TCM) Among Patients with Diabetes Mellitus in Kuantan, Malaysia
Get PDFIntroduction: Traditional complementary medicines (TCM) have long been used to treat diabetes in Malaysia. However, the usage of TCM by the patients not often is revealed thus, the incidence of complications due to the TCM was not able to be monitored. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted on 105 patients with diabetes attended medical specialist clinic and admitted in medical wards in a tertiary hospital in Kuantan Pahang, Malaysia. Knowledge and attitude of the patients towards the usage of TCM were measured using two sets of validated questionnaires consist of 16 items in total. In addition, nine items were used to determine the demographic characteristics of the patients. The data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially with the support of statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Results: Findings showed that, all patients have used at least one type of TCM to treat diabetes however, majority of them have poor knowledge (69.5%) and poor attitude (60%) towards TCM. Ninety percent (90%) admitted they concealed their usage of TCM from the healthcare professionals. Conclusion: Usage of TCM seems to be very common among patients with diabetes. However, their lack of knowledge, attitude and their decision to conceal their practice from the knowledge of healthcare professional could lead to a serious issue in long-term. A comprehensive assessment procedure needs to be in place to ensure the usage of TCM is identified to minimize the undesirable complications of the usage if TCM and the diabetes itself
Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice of Nurses in Assessing Patients using Early Warning Sign (EWS) Scoring in a teaching hospital in Kuantan Pahang, Malaysia
Get PDFIntroduction: Early Warning Sign (EWS) is a tool made up of vital signs chart and scoring to detect any changes in patient so that immediate and appropriate care can be further determined and provided. The objectives of the study are to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes, and practice of nurses in assessing patient using EWS scoring and to identify association between socio-demographic with knowledge, attitudes, and practice, as well as to determine the associations between knowledge with attitudes, attitudes with practice and knowledge of nurses in assessing patient using EWS scoring. Methods: A quantitative cross- sectional study with convenience sampling study was conducted on 132 nurses from medical, surgical and orthopedics wards in Sultan Ahmad Shah Medical Centre (SASMEC) from November 2020 until January 2021. Printed questionnaires were distributed to the nurses in English language. The questionnaire consisted of two parts. Part A was about socio-demographic data (area and on years of nursing practice, & service, area of practice, educational level, as well as whether holding post-basic/ advance course certificate, attending life support training and ICU outreach participant). Part B was about knowledge, attitudes, and practices of EWS. Data analysis was interpreted in descriptive and inferential analysis using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Results: A total of 108 respondents involved in the study represents 82% response rate. Majority of respondents scored low in knowledge questions with grade F (n=106, 98.3%). One respondent scored grade D, correctly answering 8 over 13 questions (62%). Only one respondent obtained grade B with 85% score. Based on the result, there are more participants (n=58, 53.7%) achieving good attitudes while respondents with poor attitudes were (n=50, 46.3%). Moreover, 59 respondents (54.6%) have higher practice level than mean score, indicating good EWS practice. The remaining 49 respondents (45.4%) scored below the mean score cut off point indicating poor practice. The mean values are different depending on working areas in terms of attitudes and practice. The association between attitudes and practice (r= 0.641, p-value<0.01) is confirmed having a positive and strong correlation. Conclusion: The study revealed that despite having poor knowledge on EWS, the nurses have demonstrated good attitudes and practice in detecting patients’ progressive deteriorating conditions; thus, confirming that there are associations in area of practice with attitudes and practice. The results also shows that there is a significant difference between attitudes and practice of nurses in assessing patient using EWS with (p- value< 0.05)
Depression Level Among Thyroid Disorder Patients and Its Correlation
Get PDFObjective: Patients with thyroid disorders were found to experience depression due to several factors. The aims of this study was to measure depression level among thyroid disorder patients and examine the correlation between depression and Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) and free Thyroxine (fT4), stressful life events and social support level. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out at one of the non-profit hospital at central region of Peninsular Malaysia. 153 thyroid patients were selected by using simple random sampling technique. The ethical approval was sought from IIUM Research Ethics Committee (IREC563) and the Medical Research and Ethics Committee (MREC) (NMRR-15-2127-28667). Several tools were used in this study including Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-42 (DASS-42), list of Life Threatening Experiences (LTE), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS); and Thyroid Function Test including TSH and fT4 were reviewed from the patient’s file. A correlation test was used to analyse the data by using SPSS version 21.0. Results: About 15% (n=23) out of 153 thyroid disorder patients had varies degree of depression (males - 7.8% (n=3) and females – 17.3% (n=20)). Also, there were positive correlation between depression and TSH (r=0.235, p=0.03), stressful life events (r=0.264, p=0.001) and negative correlation (r=-0.068, p=0.402) with perceived social support from family. Conclusion: These findings suggested that thyroid disorder patients had depression and the factors associated with depression were high TSH level, recent stressful life events and low social support from the family. These factors can be considered while assessing thyroid disorder patients who had symptoms of depression
Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Antibiotic Use and Antibiotic Resistance During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Nursing School Students – A Cross-sectional Study
Get PDFBackground: Antibiotic resistance is a global health concern due to the overuse of antibiotics. The impact of the COVID-19 on the antibiotics used to treat bacterial co-infection during hospitalisation led to the emergence of resistant bacteria. In the light of patient care, nursing students should have good knowledge, attitude and practice in educating the patient on the menace of antibiotic resistance. Objectives: This study aims to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice of antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance during the COVID-19 pandemic among the International Islamic University Malaysia nursing students and determine the relationship between the demographic characteristics and level of knowledge, attitude, and practice. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in which 206 nursing students were involved in this study. Convenience sampling was applied, and the study was conducted through an online questionnaire. The data were analysed by using the Chi-square test. Results: Nursing students of the International Islamic University Malaysia have good knowledge, attitude and practice regarding antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance. There was a significant association between the Infection Prevention and Control program and the nursing students' knowledge and practice, with a p-value ? of 0.05. Meanwhile, for the other demographic variables (such as gender, pre-university nursing course and clinical posting experience), there is no significant association (p ? 0.05) with knowledge, attitude and practice among the nursing students. Conclusions: The Infection Prevention and Control program shows a significant association with the knowledge and practice, which implies that nursing students who have participated in this program possessed a better understanding and practice of antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance
Community Nurse Managers’ Views of Incompetent Nursing Practice: An Interview Study
Get PDFIntroduction: Nurses' professional competence is a key factor for the quality of nursing practice, as the competence level directly influences the patient’s safety. A lack of competence among nurses raises several concerns and thus contributes to adverse effects of patient outcomes. These concerns, particularly how nurse managers understand and address incompetent practices, have not been thoroughly explored in the local context. Objective: The purpose of the study was to explore nurse managers' views of incompetent nursing practice in a community healthcare setting. Methods: A descriptive qualitative research was conducted in one single district in Brunei Darussalam with a purposive sample of nine community nurse managers from six healthcare centres. Data collection was by audio recorded of in-depth interviews. These interviews were coded and thematically analysed. Findings: The study participants discussed their perspectives on incompetent practice, the reasons for incompetence, and nurse managers' reactions to incompetence. Conclusion: The findings show that the standard views of 'incompetent' meant were elusive and inconsistent among nurse managers. Such inconsistency resulted in poor identification and management of ethical issues. Therefore, to ensure consistency, a clear view and understanding of what constitutes incompetent nursing practice must be established
Smartphone Use and Addiction among Secondary School Students in Kuantan, Malaysia
Get PDFBackground: Smartphone addiction has become a social problem in Malaysia as smartphone users increase drastically. Previous study revealed that smartphone addiction has a negative effect on the physical and psychosocial of a human being. Aims: This study aims to examine smartphone use and addiction among secondary school students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was employed involving 203 secondary school children at a secondary school in Malaysia. A set of a questionnaire consisting of two parts was used; (1) Part A: Sociodemographic, (2) Part B: Smartphone Addiction Scale in Malay version (SAS-M). Results: Finding from this study showed that there was a long duration of smartphones use was detected during the weekend with more than three hours per day and social media (81.8%) was the frequently visited function in the smartphones. These group of students were not addicted to smartphones, however, more than half of the students (57.6%) have a high risk of smartphones addiction. There is also a significant negative weak correlation between smartphone use and smartphone addiction during weekday and weekend with (p < 0.05; r2 -0.354, -0.360), respectively. Conclusion: This study provides insight into the use of smartphone and smartphone addiction in secondary school students from a Malaysian perspective
Community Nurses' Perception of Factors Influencing Knowledge and Understanding of Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
Get PDFBackground: Nurses play a significant role in health care and have the most direct contact with patients, making them the most likely to encounter ethical questions regularly. Therefore, their knowledge and understanding of the code of ethics and professional conduct are essential. In Brunei Darussalam, these codes were developed in 2010 by the Nursing Board for Brunei, Ministry of Health. However, factors influencing nurses' knowledge and understanding of these codes have not yet been studied. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine community nurses' perception of factors influencing knowledge and understanding of the codes. Methods: A qualitative research approach was used as the study design. The data were collected through individual and group semi-structured interviews and analysed using the qualitative thematic analysis method. This study was conducted on community nurses who hold managerial responsibility in four health centres in Brunei. Findings: Three factors were identified to influence Bruneian nurses' knowledge and understanding of the codes. These factors were "a lack of reinforcement", "nurses' attitude", and "work environment". Conclusion: The knowledge of the codes by community nurses is deemed to be adequate. The findings, however, highlight the need for nurses to have an enhanced understanding of the codes