RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Higher education institutions are adapting and innovating like never before to provide highly individualized learning environments for both traditional and non-traditional students. This seismic upheaval in the higher education landscape is being observed across the world. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a blended learning approach on nursing students' self-directed learning readiness. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is a quasi-experimental approach in which a non-equivalent control group was used in a post-test design. A comparison was carried out with two separate semester cohort students representing the control and intervention groups which had 24 and 30 students, respectively. This study included first-year nursing students that enrolled in a course called "Anatomy and Physiology" course of nursing education at a private university. The control group received all their teaching face-to-face, and the intervention group used information technology and prescribed activities in their online e-book. The self-directed learning readiness (SDLR) tool measures the learners' readiness in self-directed learning in both groups. This scale comprises three subscales which are "self-management," "desire for learning," and "self-control." An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare self-directed learning readiness in the control and intervention groups. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 software to measure the independent t-test. RESULTS: The self-directed readiness scores were significantly higher in the intervention group with P = 0.019. The intervention group showed a higher mean value on the subscales of self-management and self-control, which demonstrated a significant difference with P values of 0.018 and 0.028, respectively. The subscale desire for learning was insignificant with a P value of 0.166. CONCLUSION: This study concluded that the overall results demonstrate that incorporating blended learning using e-books for anatomy and physiology courses in nursing education can contribute to students' readiness for self-directed learning. Specifically, the blended learning teaching and learning strategy had a positive impact on nursing students' capacity for self-management and self-control.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Medication non-adherence leads to a vast range of negative outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease. An automated web-based system managing short message service (SMS) reminders is a telemedicine approach to optimise adherence among patients who frequently forget to take their medications or miss the timing. AIM: This paper sought to investigate the effect of automated SMS-based reminders on medication adherence in patients after hospital discharge following acute coronary syndrome (ACS). METHODS: An interventional study was conducted at a tertiary teaching hospital in Malaysia. A total of 62 patients with ACS were equally randomised to receive either automated SMS reminders before every intake of cardiac medications or only usual care within eight weeks after discharge. The primary outcome was adherence to cardiac medications. Secondary outcomes were the heart functional status, and ACS-related hospital readmission and death rates. RESULTS: There was a higher medication adherence level in the intervention group rather than the usual care group, (χ(2) (2)=18.614, p<0.001). The risk of being low adherent among the control group was 4.09 times greater than the intervention group (relative risk =4.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.82-9.18). A meaningful difference was found in heart functional status between the two study groups with better results among patients who received SMS reminders, (χ(2) (1) = 16.957, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: An automated SMS-based reminder system can potentially enhance medication adherence in ACS patients during the early post-discharge period.
