Practice of pharmaceutical care by community pharmacists in response to self-medication request for a cough: a simulated client study.

BACKGROUND: Community pharmacy practice worldwide has been shifting from product-focused to patient-oriented. However, due to the absence of separation between prescribing and dispensing in Malaysia, community pharmacists may have limited roles in the provision of pharmaceutical care to patients with chronic diseases. Therefore, the main functions of community pharmacists in Malaysia are related to self-medication requests for minor ailments and the supply of non-prescription medications. The objective of this study was to determine the practice of pharmaceutical care by community pharmacists within the Klang Valley, Malaysia in response to self-medication requests for a cough. METHODS: This study utilised a simulated client method. A research assistant, acting as a simulated client, visited community pharmacies in the Klang Valley, Malaysia to consult the pharmacists on the treatment of a cough experienced by his father. Upon leaving the pharmacy premise, the simulated client entered the pharmacist's responses in a data collection form which was structured based on pharmacy mnemonics for the response to symptoms, OBRA'90 on counselling elements, the five practice principles of pharmaceutical care by the American Pharmacists Association and literature review. Visits to the community pharmacies were conducted from September to October 2018. RESULTS: The simulated client visited a total of 100 community pharmacies. None of these community pharmacists practised adequate patients' data collection, with only a low proportion who practised all the components studied under medication information evaluation (13%), formulating a drug therapy plan (15%) and monitoring and modifying the plan (3%). Of the 100 community pharmacists, 98 recommended treatment but none of them provided all the counselling elements studied in implementing the drug therapy plan. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that community pharmacists within the Klang Valley, Malaysia were not providing adequate pharmaceutical care services to patients seeking self-medication for a cough. Such practice may compromise patient safety if inappropriate medicines or advice are given.

Acceptability of pharmacist-led interventions to resolve drug-related problems in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia.

PURPOSE: Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) patients on long-term tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy are susceptible to drug-related problems (DRPs). This study aimed to evaluate the acceptability and outcomes of pharmacist-led interventions on DRPs encountered by CML patients. METHODS: This study included participants from the intervention arm of a randomised controlled trial which was conducted to evaluate the effects of pharmacist-led interventions on CML patients treated with TKIs. Participants were recruited and followed up in the haematology clinics of two hospitals in Malaysia from March 2017 to January 2019. A pharmacist identified DRPs and helped to resolve them. Patients were followed-up for six months, and their DRPs were assessed based on the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe Classification for DRP v7.0. The identified DRPs, the pharmacist's interventions, and the acceptance and outcomes of the interventions were recorded. A Poisson multivariable regression model was used to analyse factors associated with the number of identified DRPs per participant. RESULTS: A total of 198 DRPs were identified from 65 CML patients. The median number of DRPs per participants was 3 (interquartile range: 2, 4). Most participants (97%) had at least one DRP, which included adverse drug events (45.5%), treatment ineffectiveness (31.5%) and patients' treatment concerns or dissatisfaction (23%). The 228 causes of DRPs identified comprised the following: lack of disease or treatment information, or outcome monitoring (47.8%), inappropriate drug use processes (23.2%), inappropriate patient behaviour (19.9%), suboptimal drug selection (6.1%), suboptimal dose selection (2.6%) and logistic issues in dispensing (0.4%). The number of concomitant medications was significantly associated with the number of DRPs (adjusted Odds Ratio: 1.100; 95% CI: 1.005, 1.205; p = 0.040). Overall, 233 interventions were made. These included providing patient education on disease states or TKI-related side effects (75.1%) and recommending appropriate instructions for taking medications (7.7%). Of the 233 interventions, 94.4% were accepted and 83.7% were implemented by the prescriber or patient. A total of 154 DRPs (77.3%) were resolved. CONCLUSIONS: The pharmacist-led interventions among CML patients managed to identify various DRPs, were well accepted by both TKI prescribers and patients, and had a high success rate of resolving the DRPs.

The extent and barriers in providing pharmaceutical care services by community pharmacists in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Since the introduction of pharmaceutical care concept by Hepler and Strand in 1990, community pharmacists worldwide have been realigning their roles from being product-focused to patient-orientated to improve patient's quality of life. The objectives of this study were to determine the type of services, with emphasis on the extent of pharmaceutical care services provided by community pharmacists and the barriers in providing such services in Malaysia. METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted using an online questionnaire. Community pharmacists in Malaysia were invited to participate in the study via emails. The questionnaire was structured based on the Malaysian Community Pharmacy Benchmarking Guidelines, the five practice principles of pharmaceutical care by the American Pharmacists Association and other studies. The online questionnaire was opened for 6 months, from April to September 2018. A reminder to participate was sent via email to the community pharmacists every fortnight. RESULTS: A total of 420 community pharmacists responded to the online questionnaire. Besides essential services such as treatment for minor illness, medicine dispensing and counselling, most of the respondents were providing health screening and monitoring (99.5%), selection and recommendation of health supplements (90.5%), patient medication review (68.8%), weight management (52.4%) and counselling on smoking cessation (51.0%). More than half (53.3%) of the respondents reported that they were providing pharmaceutical care services to patients with chronic diseases. Based on the practice principles of pharmaceutical care, the respondents were involved in patients' data collection (23.3%), medical information evaluation (18.6%), formulating a drug therapy plan (9.3%), implementing a drug therapy plan (4.5%), and monitoring and modifying the plan (18.3%). Lack of separation between prescribing and dispensing was perceived as the main barrier to the implementation of pharmaceutical care services by a majority of the respondents (84.0%). CONCLUSIONS: The present study found that pharmaceutical care services provided by community pharmacists in Malaysia were inadequate compared to international practice principles. Areas that need improvement included collaboration with patients' other health care providers; more proactive management of patient's medicine regimen; having proper patient monitoring and follow-up mechanisms, and documentation.

Telemonitoring and Team-Based Management of Glycemic Control on People with Type 2 Diabetes: a Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Connected devices that allow people with diabetes to monitor their blood glucose levels remotely with data visualization have been shown to improve self-care behavior in diabetes management. However, their effectiveness and usability for a low-middle-income, racially diverse population are unknown. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the effects of remote telemonitoring with team-based management on people with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes. DESIGN: This was a pragmatic 52-week cluster-randomized controlled study among 11 primary care government practices in Malaysia. PARTICIPANTS: People with type 2 diabetes aged 18 and above, who had hemoglobin A1c ≥ 7.5% but less than 11.0% within the past 3 months and resided in the state of Selangor. INTERVENTION: The intervention group received home gluco-telemonitors and transmitted glucose data to a care team who could adjust therapy accordingly. The team also facilitated self-management by supporting participants to improve medication adherence, and encourage healthier lifestyle and use of resources to reduce risk factors. Usual care group received routine healthcare service. MAIN MEASURE: The primary outcome was the change in HbA1c at 24 weeks and 52 weeks. Secondary outcomes included change in fasting plasma glucose, blood pressure, lipid levels, health-related quality of life, and diabetes self-efficacy. RESULTS: A total of 240 participants were recruited in this study. The telemonitoring group reported larger improvements in glycemic control compared with control at the end of study (week 24, - 0.05%; 95% CI - 0.10 to 0.00%) and at follow-up (week 52, - 0.03%; - 0.07 to 0.02%, p = 0.226). Similarly, no differences in other secondary outcomes were observed, including the number of adverse events and health-related quality of life. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that there is limited benefit of replacing telemedicine with the current practice of self-monitoring of blood glucose. Further innovative methods to improve patient engagement in diabetes care are needed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02466880.

Correction to: Efficacy of a medication management service in improving adherence to tyrosine kinase inhibitors and clinical outcomes of patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia: a randomised controlled trial.

Revised Funding Information.

Efficacy of a medication management service in improving adherence to tyrosine kinase inhibitors and clinical outcomes of patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia: a randomised controlled trial.

PURPOSE: Suboptimal adherence to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) contributes to poor clinical outcomes in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). This randomised controlled trial (RCT) aimed to evaluate the impact of a medication management service (MMS) on adherence to TKIs and clinical outcomes. METHODS: A parallel RCT was conducted in two hospitals in Malaysia, where 129 CML patients were randomised to MMS or control (usual care) groups using a stratified 1:1 block randomisation method. The 6-month MMS included three face-to-face medication use reviews, CML and TKI-related education, two follow-up telephone conversations, a printed information booklet and two adherence aids. Medication adherence (primary outcome), molecular responses and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores were assessed at baseline, 6th and 12th month. Medication adherence and HRQoL were assessed using medication possession ratio and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment in Cancer questionnaire (EORTC_QLQ30_CML24) respectively. RESULTS: The MMS group (n = 65) showed significantly higher adherence to TKIs than the control group (n = 64) at 6th month (81.5% vs 56.3%; p = 0.002), but not at 12th month (72.6% vs 60.3%; p = 0.147). In addition, a significantly higher proportion of participants in the MMS group achieved major molecular response at 6th month (58.5% vs 35.9%; p = 0.010), but not at 12th month (66.2% vs 51.6%; p = 0.092). Significant deep molecular response was also obtained at 12th month (24.6% vs 10.9%; p = 0.042). Six out of 20 subscales of EORTC-QLQ30-CML24 were significantly better in the MMS group. CONCLUSIONS: The MMS improved CML patients' adherence to TKI as well as achieved better clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrial.gov (ID: NCT03090477).

Acceptance of interprofessional learning between medical and pharmacy students in a prescribing skills training workshop: pre-post intervention study.

BACKGROUND: The success of interprofessional collaboration in healthcare services requires a paradigm shift in the training of future health profession practitioners. This study aimed to develop and validate an instrument to measure Student Acceptance of Interprofessional Learning (SAIL) in Malaysia, and to assess this attribute among medical and pharmacy students using a prescribing skills training workshop. METHODS: The study consisted of two phases. In Phase 1, a 10-item instrument (SAIL-10) was developed and tested on a cohort of medical and pharmacy students who attended the workshop. In Phase 2, different cohorts of medical and pharmacy students completed SAIL-10 before and after participating in the workshop. RESULTS: Factor analysis showed that SAIL-10 has two domains: "facilitators of interprofessional learning" and "acceptance to learning in groups". The overall SAIL-10 and the two domains have adequate internal consistency and stable reliability. The total score and scores for the two domains were significantly higher after students attended the prescribing skills workshop. CONCLUSIONS: This study produced a valid and reliable instrument, SAIL-10 which was used to demonstrate that the prescribing skills workshop, where medical and pharmacy students were placed in an authentic context, was a promising activity to promote interprofessional learning among future healthcare professionals.

A pharmacy management service for adults with asthma: a cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background: Although clinical guidelines are available for the management of asthma, this health condition is still poorly managed in many countries. Objectives: To assess the effects of a Pharmacy Management Service (PharMS) on asthma control of adult patients. Methods: This study comprised of a cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) that was conducted from April 2014 to July 2015 at four government health clinics. The control participants received usual pharmacy service, while the intervention participants were recruited into the PharMS. Each participant was monitored for 6 months, and the outcome measures included asthma control using the Asthma Control Test (ACT), inhaler technique using a checklist and medication adherence using the Malaysian Medication Adherence Scale. Results: A total of 157 participants were recruited: 77 in the control and 80 in the intervention group. At the end of the study, 90% of the intervention participants achieved well-controlled asthma compared to 28.6% in the control group (P < 0.001). The differences in the proportion of participants with correct inhaler technique was also significant, with an adjusted effect size of 0.953 (P < 0.001). In addition, the intervention participants showed significantly higher medication adherence than the control group (92.5% versus 45.5%, P < 0.001). The Generalised Estimated Equation analysis further confirmed that the PharMS (P < 0.001) was significantly related to an improvement in the ACT scores. Conclusion: A community-based asthma management program, the PharMS, that provided asthma education and skill training by a trained pharmacist, resulted in positive and significant improvements in clinical and management outcomes of adult asthma patients.

Intervention for Diabetes with Education, Advancement and Support (IDEAS) study: protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The high market penetration of mobile phones has triggered an opportunity to combine mobile technology with health care to overcome challenges in today's health care setting. Although Malaysia has a high Internet and mobile penetration rate, evaluations of the efficacy of incorporating this technology in diabetes care is not common. We report the development of a telemonitoring coaching system, using the United Kingdom (UK) Medical Research Council (MRC) framework, for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: The Intervention for Diabetes with Education, Technological Advancement and Support (IDEAS) study is a telemonitoring programme based on an empowerment philosophy to enable participants to be responsible for their own health decision and behaviour. An iterative cycle of development, piloting, and collating qualitative and quantitative data will be used to inform and refine the intervention. To increase compliance, the intervention will be designed to encourage self-management using simple, non-technical knowledge. The primary outcomes will be HbA1c, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and quality of life and diabetes self-efficacy. In addition, an economic analysis on health service utilisation will be collected. DISCUSSION: The mixed-method approach in this study will allow for a holistic overview of using telemonitoring in diabetes care. This design enables researchers to understand the effectiveness of telemonitoring as well as provide insights towards the receptiveness of incorporating information technology amongst type 2 diabetes patients in a community setting. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02466880 Registered 2 June 2015.

Development and validation of an instrument to assess the prescribing readiness of medical students in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: Prescribing incompetence is an important factor that contributes to prescribing error, and this is often due to inadequate training during medical schools. We therefore aimed to develop and validate an instrument to assess the prescribing readiness of medical students (PROMS) in Malaysia. METHODS: The PROMS comprised of 26 items with four domains: undergraduate learning opportunities; hands-on clinical skills practice; information gathering behaviour; and factors affecting the learning of prescribing skills. The first three domains were adapted from an existing questionnaire, while items from the last domain were formulated based on findings from a nominal group discussion. Face and content validity was determined by an expert panel, pilot tested in a class of final year (Year 5) medical students, and assessed using the Flesch reading ease. To assess the reliability of the PROMS, the internal consistency and test-retest (at baseline and 2 weeks later) were assessed using the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test and Spearman's rho. The discriminative validity of the PROMS was assessed using the Mann-Whitney U-test (to assess if the PROMS could discriminate between final year medical students from a public and a private university). RESULTS: A total of 119 medical students were recruited. Flesch reading ease was 46.9, indicating that the instrument was suitable for use in participants undergoing tertiary education. The overall Cronbach alpha value of the PROMS was 0.695, which was satisfactory. Test-retest showed no difference for 25/26 items, indicating that our instrument was reliable. Responses from the public and private university final year medical students were significantly different in 10/26 items, indicating that the PROMS was able to discriminate between these two groups. Medical students from the private university reported fewer learning opportunities and hands-on practice compared to those from the public university. On the other hand, medical students from the private university reported more frequent use of both web based and non-web-based resources compared to their public university counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: The PROMS instrument was found to be a reliable and valid tool for assessing medical students' readiness to prescribe in Malaysia. It may also inform on the adequacy of medical programmes in training prescribing skills.

Patients' Experiences and Preferences for Medicine Information: An International Comparison Between Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and England.

Background: Verbal and written medicine information are available to the public but the quality, ease of access, ease of understanding and use of these resources varies greatly between countries. Timely access to quality medicine information is essential to support patient safety. Objective: This international cross-sectional survey, conducted in low-to high-income countries, aimed to compare experiences of and preferences for medicine information sources among respondents with recent medicine use. Methods: The survey was originally developed in England (Kent), then adapted and translated for use in southern Thailand (Songkhla), Malaysia (Klang Valley), and central Uganda (Kampala). Data were analysed using simple descriptive statistics and Chi-squared tests. Results: A total 1588 respondents were involved in the study. Community pharmacies were the primary source of medicines in all four countries (40.7 to 65.3%). Most respondents (1460; 92%) had received at least one form of information with their medicine, but provision of written medicine information (WMI) varied between countries. A manufacturer's leaflet was the most frequent information source for patients in England, while verbal information was common in Thailand, Malaysia and Uganda. There was commonality across countries in the desire for verbal information with or without WMI (1330; 84.8%); aspects of medicine information wanted most frequently were instructions on medicine use (98.3%), indication (98.2%), name (94.4%) and possible side effects (94.3%); and the importance of providing leaflets with all medicines (87.5%). Fewer than 10% in Uganda would use internet based WMI, compared to between 20% and 55% elsewhere. Conclusion: Preferences for medicine information are similar across countries: verbal information is seen as most desirable, and the most wanted aspects of information are common internationally. Accessibility and understandability are key influences on preferred information sources. In-country regulations and practices should ensure that all medicine users can access the information necessary to maximise safe medicine use.

Burden of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory and antiplatelet drug use in Asia: a multidisciplinary working party report.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: We established a working group to examine the burden of atherothrombotic and musculoskeletal diseases in Asia and made recommendations for safer prescribing of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and low-dose aspirin. METHODS: By using a modified Delphi process, consensus was reached among 12 multidisciplinary experts from Asia. Statements were developed by the steering committee after a literature review, modified, and then approved through 3 rounds of anonymous voting by using a 6-point scale from A+ (strongly agree) to D+ (strongly disagree). Agreement (A+/A) by ≥ 80% of panelists was defined a priori as consensus. RESULTS: We identified unique aspects of atherothrombotic and musculoskeletal diseases in Asia. Asia has a lower prevalence of degenerative arthritis and coronary artery disease than Western countries. The age-adjusted mortality of coronary artery disease is lower in Asia; cerebrovascular accident has higher mortality than coronary artery disease. Ischemia has replaced hemorrhage as the predominant pattern of cerebrovascular accident. Low-dose aspirin use is less prevalent in Asia than in Western countries. Traditional Chinese medicine and mucoprotective agents are commonly used in Asia, but their efficacy is not established. For Asian populations, little is known about complications of the lower gastrointestinal tract from use of NSAIDs and underutilization of gastroprotective agents. Our recommendations for preventing ulcer bleeding among users of these drugs who are at high risk for these complications were largely derived from Asian studies and are similar to Western guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: By using an evidence-based, multidisciplinary approach, we have identified unique aspects of musculoskeletal and atherothrombotic diseases and strategies for preventing NSAID-related and low-dose aspirin-related gastrointestinal toxicity in Asia.

Validation of the diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia (DHL) knowledge instrument in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: Patient's knowledge on diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia and its medications can be used as one of the outcome measures to assess the effectiveness of educational intervention. To date, no such instrument has been validated in Malaysia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Diabetes, Hypertension and Hyperlipidemia (DHL) knowledge instrument for assessing the knowledge of patients with type 2 diabetes in Malaysia. METHODS: A 28-item instrument which comprised of 5 domains: diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, medications and general issues was designed and tested. One point was given for every correct answer, whilst zero was given for incorrect answers. Scores ranged from 0 to 28, which were then converted into percentage. This was administered to 77 patients with type 2 diabetes in a tertiary hospital, who were on medication(s) for diabetes and who could understand English (patient group), and to 40 pharmacists (professional group). The DHL knowledge instrument was administered again to the patient group after one month. Excluded were patients less than 18 years old. RESULTS: Flesch reading ease was 60, which is satisfactory, while the mean difficulty factor(SD) was 0.74(0.21), indicating that DHL knowledge instrument was moderately easy. Internal consistency of the instrument was good, with Cronbach's α = 0.791. The test-retest scores showed no significant difference for 26 out of the 28 items, indicating that the questionnaire has achieved stable reliability. The overall mean(SD) knowledge scores was significantly different between the patient and professional groups [74.35(14.88) versus 93.84(6.47), p < 0.001]. This means that the DHL knowledge instrument could differentiate the knowledge levels of participants. The DHL knowledge instrument shows similar psychometric properties as other validated questionnaires. CONCLUSIONS: The DHL knowledge instrument shows good promise to be adopted as an instrument for assessing diabetic patients' knowledge concerning their disease conditions and medications in Malaysia.

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

BACKGROUND: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSIONS: 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.

Monitoring and Improving Adherence to Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: A Systematic Review.

PURPOSE: Suboptimal adherence to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) is a widely recognized issue compromising the disease control and survival of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). A recently published review by Heiney et al reported inconclusive findings on the effects of a broad range of adherence enhancing interventions. The current systematic review aimed to identify studies that evaluated adherence-enhancing interventions implemented by healthcare professionals and determine their effect on CML patients' medication adherence and clinical outcomes. METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed in 5 databases for articles published between 2002 and 2021. Studies that compared adherence enhancing interventions implemented by healthcare professionals with a comparison group were included. Relevant data on study characteristics were extracted. Medication adherence and clinical outcomes between intervention and control arms were compared. RESULTS: Nine studies were included in two randomised controlled trials, four cohort studies, and three before-and-after comparison studies. All the included studies incorporated complex interventions, including intensive education or consultation with pharmacists, nurses or multidisciplinary team, in combination with one or more other strategies such as structured follow-up, written materials or video, psychotherapy, medication reminder or treatment diary, with the overall goal of monitoring and improving TKI adherence. Most (7 out of 9) studies demonstrated significantly better adherence to TKIs in the intervention group than the comparison group. The relative proportion of participants who adhered to TKIs ranged from 1.22 to 2.42. The improvement in the rate of TKI doses taken/received ranged from 1.5% to 7.1%. Only one study showed a significant association between intervention and clinical outcomes, with a 22.6% higher major molecular response rate and improvement in 6 out of 20 subscales of health-related quality-of-life. CONCLUSION: Complex interventions delivered by healthcare professionals showed improvement in adherence to TKIs in CML patients. Further studies are required to clarify the cost-effectiveness of adherence-enhancing interventions.

Drug administration errors in paediatric wards: a direct observation approach.

Paediatric patients are more vulnerable to drug administration errors due to a lack of appropriate drug dosages and strengths for use in this group of patients. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine the extent and types of drug administration errors in two paediatric wards and to identify measures to reduce such errors. A researcher was stationed in two paediatric wards of a teaching hospital to observe all drugs administered to paediatric inpatients in each of the ward, for 1 day in a week over ten consecutive weeks. All data were recorded in a data collection form and then compared with the actual drugs and dosages prescribed for the patients. Of the 857 drug administrations observed, 100 doses had errors, and this gave an error rate of 11.7% [95% confidence interval (CI) 9.5-13.9%]. If wrong time administration errors were excluded, the error rate reduced to 7.8% (95% CI 6.0-9.6%). The most common types of drug administration errors were incorrect time of administration (28.8%), followed by incorrect drug preparation (26%), omission errors (16.3%) and incorrect dose (11.5%). None of the errors observed were considered as potentially life threatening, although 40.4% could possibly cause patient harm. Drug administration errors are as common in paediatric wards in Malaysia as in other countries. Double-checking should be conducted, as this could reduce drug administration errors by about 20%, but collaborative efforts between all healthcare professionals are essential.

Knowledge and Attitude of University Students on Antibiotics: A Cross-sectional Study in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: Antibiotic resistance has become one of the major global health threats. The lack of knowledge on antibiotics contributes to the indiscriminate use of these medications and subsequent antibiotic resistance. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the knowledge and attitude of university students regarding antibiotics. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on university students at a private university in Malaysia in 2018, using a self-administered validated questionnaire. RESULTS: Of the 424 respondents included in this study, 25.7% had taken antibiotics in the previous month while 22.6% had good knowledge about antibiotics. The faculty to which the respondents were attached was the only determinant associated with the respondents' knowledge level on antibiotics. The odds of respondents from other faculties having poor knowledge level on antibiotics were significantly higher than those from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences (P<0.001). The study found that 77.8% of the respondents knew the roles of antibiotics in treating bacterial infections, but only 27.4% knew that antibiotics were not for viral infections. However, 46.5% of the respondents recognized that penicillin is an antibiotic, but only 35.4% and 9.2% knew that aspirin and diphenhydramine, respectively, are not antibiotics. More than 70% of the respondents were aware that antibiotics have side effects and that overuse of antibiotics could lead to resistance. However, 35.6% expected antibiotics to be prescribed for common colds and 33% would not complete their course of antibiotics. CONCLUSION: The study shows that university students do not have adequate knowledge and about one-third have misconceptions about antibiotics. This calls for health education interventions at university level as this target population will be the future leaders of the country.

Reliability and Validity of the M-MALMAS Instrument to Assess Medication Adherence in Malay-Speaking Patients with Type 2 Diabetes.

BACKGROUND: The English Malaysian Medication Adherence Scale (MALMAS) has been validated for assessing medication adherence of people with type 2 diabetes. However, Malay is the national language of Malaysia. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to cross-culturally adapt and validate the Malay MALMAS (M-MALMAS) in Malaysia. METHODS: Adults with type 2 diabetes, who could understand Malay, were recruited between May 2016 and February 2017 from a primary care clinic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The M-MALMAS and the Malay version of the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) were administered at baseline to test for convergent validity. Four weeks later, the M-MALMAS was re-administered. Predictive validity of the M-MALMAS was assessed by correlating the medication adherence scores with levels of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c). RESULTS: In total, 100 of 104 people agreed to participate (response rate = 96.2%). The overall Cronbach's α and McDonald's Ω for the M-MALMAS was 0.654 and 0.676, respectively (mean = 0.665). At test-retest, no significant difference was found for all items. The median total score interquartile range (IQR) of the M-MALMAS was 7.0 (6.0-8.0) and this was significantly correlated to the median total score of the Malay MMAS-8 [median (IQR) = 7.0 (5.8-8.0), p < 0.001]. HbA1c levels were significantly lower among participants who were adherent to their medications (score: 6-8) versus those who were non-adherent (score < 6, p = 0.018). The sensitivity and specificity of the M-MALMAS was 92% and 32.8%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The M-MALMAS was found to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing medication adherence of people with type 2 diabetes in Malaysia. The M-MALMAS had a high sensitivity but its specificity was not as good.

Risk factors associated with nosocomial infections among end stage renal disease patients undergoing hemodialysis: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Profound healthcare challenges confront societies with an increase in prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD), which is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Due to several facility and patient related factors, ESRD is significantly associated with increased morbidity and mortality attributed to infections. AIMS AND OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess systematically the characteristics of patients and risk factors associated with nosocomial infections among ESRD patients undergoing hemodialysis. METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed to identify eligible studies published during the period from inception to December 2018 pertaining to risk factors associated with nosocomial infections among hemodialysis patients. The relevant studies were generated through a computerized search on five databases (PubMed, EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect and Scopus) using the Mesh Words: nosocomial infections, hospital acquired infections, healthcare associated infections, end stage renal disease, end stage renal failure, hemodialysis, and risk factors. The complete protocol has been registered under PROSPERO (CRD42019124099). RESULTS: Initially, 1411 articles were retrieved. Out of these, 24 were duplicates and hence were removed. Out of 1387 remaining articles, 1337 were removed based on irrelevant titles and/or abstracts. Subsequently, the full texts of 50 articles were reviewed and 41 studies were excluded at this stage due to lack of relevant information. Finally, nine articles were selected for this review. Longer hospital stay, longer duration on hemodialysis, multiple catheter sites, longer catheterization, age group, lower white blood cell count, history of blood transfusion, and diabetes were identified as the major risk factors for nosocomial infections among hemodialysis patients. CONCLUSION: The results of this review indicate an information gap and potential benefits of additional preventive measures to further reduce the risk of infections in hemodialysis population. Moreover, several patient-related and facility-related risk factors were consistently observed in the studies included in this review, which require optimal control measures.

Development of a PATIENT-Medication Adherence Instrument (P-MAI) and a HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL-Medication Adherence Instrument (H-MAI) using the nominal group technique.

To date, several medication adherence instruments have been developed and validated worldwide. However, most instruments have only assessed medication adherence from the patient's perspective. The aim was to develop and validate the PATIENT-Medication Adherence Instrument (P-MAI) and the HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL-Medication Adherence Instrument (H-MAI) to assess medication adherence from the patient's and healthcare professional (HCP)'s perspectives. The P-MAI-12 and H-MAI-12 were developed using the nominal group technique. The face and content validity was determined by an expert panel and piloted. The initial version of these instruments consisted of 12 items were validated from October-December 2018 at a primary care clinic in Malaysia. Included were patients aged ≥21 years, diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, taking at least one oral hypoglycaemic agent and who could understand English. The HCPs recruited were family medicine specialists or trainees. To assess validity, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and concurrent validity were performed; internal consistency and test-retest were performed to assess its reliability. A total of 120/158 patients (response rate = 75.9%) and 30/33 HCPs (response rate = 90.9%) agreed to participate. EFA found three problematic items in both instruments, which was then removed. The final version of the P-MAI-9 and the HMAI-9 had 9 items each with two domains (adherence = 2 items and knowledge/belief = 7 items). For concurrent validity, the total score of the P-MAI-9 and the H-MAI-9 were not significantly different (p = 0.091), indicating that medication adherence assessed from both the patient's and HCP's perspectives were similar. Both instruments achieved acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α: P-MAI-9 = 0.722; H-MAI-9 = 0.895). For the P-MAI-9, 7/9 items showed no significant difference between test and retest whereas 8/9 items in the H-MAI-9 showed significant difference at test and retest (p>0.05). In conclusion, the P-MAI-9 and H-MAI-9 had low sensitivity and high specificity suggesting that both instruments can be used for identifying patients more likely to be non-adherent to their medications.