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Objectives: The current study evaluated the knowledge and its predictors regarding the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) among future healthcare professionals in a university in Malaysia. Methods: A cross-sectional study approach was utilized to recruit the study participants from three different healthcare faculties of a university. A validated research tool with a data collection form was used to obtain data by convenience sampling method. The healthcare faculties involved in the present research were pharmacy, dentistry, and medical. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 24.0 was used to analyze the data. Results: In the current study, a total of 273 participants were recruited. The majority of the study participants had an average and inadequate knowledge about EVD. The male participants had better adequate knowledge than females. Both univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were applied to determine the predictors of knowledge about EVD among the study participants. Statistically, a significant level was taken at p <0.05. Conclusion: Gender and healthcare professionals in the family were observed as the pure predictors of knowledge regarding EVD among the study participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate correlated factors (correlates) of attitude towards Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) among health care students in a medical university. Methods: A stratified convenient sampling technique was used to calculate the sample size for the current study in three different health care faculties. A pre-validated and self-developed questionnaire was used for data collection of the present study. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0 was utilized for data analysis and the interpretation of the results with the help of both descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: A total of 268 health care students from three faculties (medical, pharmacy and dental) participated in the current study. In univariate analysis, a statistical significance (p<0.05) was observed in all of the studied variables. Conversely, in multivariate logistic regression model, gender, faculty, year of education and residence variables were observed as statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study confirmed that gender, faculty, year of education and residence were the correlates (pure) of the attitude towards ALS among health care students of a medical university in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The study objective was to appraise the predictors affecting healthcare students' perceptions concerning mental health challenges (MHCs) in a medical university. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted to associate the various predictors affecting the perception concerning the MHCs of health care students in a medical university in Malaysia. A self-prepared and validated questionnaire was distributed to the health care students in three different healthcare faculties (medical, pharmacy and dentistry) in a medical university. The required sample size for the current study was calculated using a convenient stratified sampling technique. The targeted minimum sample size was 250 participants from three different health care faculties. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 24.0 was used to analyze and present the data. Results: From 284 study participants, female students had significantly better (p=0.003) perception than males. A statically significant association (p=0.032) was observed between faculty determinant and perception of pharmacy students. The final students had significantly better (p=0.018) perception as compared to pre-final year students. The students living in hostels had a better perception than non-hostellers. Parents' education (p=0.029) and having health care professionals (p=0.002) in the family were directly associated with a better perception of health care students. Conclusion: Overall good perception of MHCs was observed among the studied cohort of the medical university's health care students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease which can lead to different complications in patients if not treated properly. An appropriate intervention from health care providers is needed to stop and decrease the progression of diabetic complication in diabetic patients. This study aimed to measure the effect of pharmacist intervention on improvement in sign and symptoms and progression of diabetic complications in diabetic patients. Methodology: Diabetic patients were randomly selected and divided into two groups from two tertiary care hospitals. Control group contained those 200 patients who were receiving usual treatment from hospitals. In contrast, the intervention group included those 200 patients who were receiving conventional treatment from hospitals together with separate counselling sessions with pharmacists from Diabetes Medication Therapy Adherence Clinic departments. The study continued for 1 year and two follow-up visits for both groups. A prevalidated data collection form was used to measure the improvement in sign and symptoms and progression of diabetic complication in diabetic patients. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 was used to analyze the data. Results: The average hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values decreased up to 1.43% in the control group and 2.82% in the intervention group. The intervention group showed significant improvement in HbA1c between groups (P < 0.05). The results of univariate and multivariate regression analysis showed that a statistically significant (P < 0.001) improvement was observed in all the predictors of diabetic complications among in the intervention group when compared with the control group. Conclusion: Statistically significant reduction in the sign and symptoms of diabetic complications was observed in the intervention group at the end of 1 year. The progression of diabetic neuropathy was significantly reduced in the pharmacist intervention group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: There is a wide range of use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), which has increased drastically and affected treatments overall. The knowledge and practice of Chinese herbal medicine among the general population is considered as positive. Literature shows that the effectiveness and acceptance of alternative therapies is still debatable among the general population. Materials and Methods: Study design was cross-sectional, in which sociodemographic data of respondents were collected through a validated questionnaire; results were analyzed by using validated data collection tool. The results were concluded on the basis of good, moderate, and poor response, which was evaluated through data analysis by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 20.0. A P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Respondents were 182 (44.4%) males and 228 (55.6%) females; better knowledge was recognized among the females (P < 0.001) with mean knowledge of 15.55 ± 2.7. Chinese population had good knowledge with statistically strong correlation with mean knowledge of 15.63 (P = 0.006). Likewise, Buddhism was reported to have good knowledge among all the religions. Rural population was underlined with lesser family income and they showed good practice and understanding (P = 0.006). Comparatively positive attitude was noticed among the females (P < 0.001) with mean attitude of 15.55 ± 2.7. The highest level of education in this study was postgraduate, which showed 77.1% good attitude. Postgraduate participants were having varied results with standard deviation of ±6.23. Statistically highly significant association was seen between the religion and attitude of respondents with the P < 0.001. Chinese medicine is widely used, but religious difference was found among the races. Similar difference was found in knowledge and practice among the population of rural side and low family income compared to urban population with higher income and access to allopathic medicine. Conclusions: Despite having better practice among the Malaysian population, still the knowledge needs to be disseminated among the population for the overall use of traditional Chinese medicine with safety to improve health and quality of life in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder that can initiate organ damage inside the body if not treated appropriately. Apart from tight glycemic control, a suitable educational intervention is also needed from health-care providers to stop or decrease the progression of organ damage in diabetic patients. This study intended to measure the impact of pharmacist-led educational intervention on improvement in predictors of diabetic foot in two different hospitals in Malaysia. Materials and Methods: In two tertiary care selected hospitals, the included diabetic patients were randomly divided into two study arms. In the control group, 200 patients who were receiving usual treatment from hospitals were included. However, in the intervention group, those 200 patients who were receiving usual treatment along with counseling sessions from pharmacists under the Diabetes Medication Therapy Adherence Clinic (DMTAC) program were included. The study continued for 1 year, and there were four follow-up visits for both study arms. A prevalidated data collection form was used to measure the improvement in predictors of diabetic foot in included patients. Data were analyzed by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software program, version 24.0. Results: With the average decrease of 1.97% of HbA1c values in the control group and 3.43% in the intervention group, the univariate and multivariate analysis showed a statistically significant difference between both of the study arms in the improvement of predictors belonging to the diabetic foot (P < 0.05). The proportion of patients without any signs and symptoms of the diabetic foot in the intervention group was 91.7%, which increased from 42.3% at baseline (P < 0.05). However, this proportion in the control group was 76.9% at the fourth follow-up, from 48.3% at baseline (P < 0.05). Conclusion: A statistically significant reduction in the signs and symptoms of diabetic foot was observed in the intervention group at the end of 1 year. The progression of diabetic foot was significantly decreased in the pharmacist intervention group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Community pharmacist's knowledge about the uses of herbal medicines and its adverse drug reactions reporting can contribute in better therapeutic outcomes and patient safety. Objectives: To evaluate community pharmacists' knowledge about the use of herbal medicines and its adverse drug reactions reporting in Kedah state, Malaysia. Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among 103 pharmacists from 74 different community pharmacies to assess their knowledge about the use of herbal medicines and its adverse drug reaction reporting by using a pre-validate knowledge questionnaire consisting of 12 questions related to it. The pharmacists' responses were measured at a 3-point Likert scale (Poor=1, Moderate=2, and Good=3) and data was entered in SPSS version 22. The minimum and maximum possible scores for knowledge questionnaires were 12 and 36 respectively. Quantitative data was analyzed by using One Way ANOVA and Paired t-test whereas Chi-square and Fisher exact test were used for qualitative data analysis. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant for all the analyses. Results: About 92% of the pharmacist had good knowledge regarding the use of herbal medicines and its adverse drug reaction reporting with a mean knowledge score of 32.88±3.16. One-way ANOVA determined a significant difference of employment setting (p<0.043) and years of experience (<0.008) with mean knowledge scores of Pharmacists. Pharmacists' knowledge was significantly associated with their years of experience with the Chi-square test. Conclusion: Pharmacists exhibit good knowledge regarding the use of herbal medicines and its adverse drug reaction reporting. However, with an increasing trend of herbal medicine use and its adverse drug reaction reporting it recalls the empowerment of experienced pharmacists with training programs in this area for better clinical outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The objective of the study was to evaluate the determinants affecting knowledge of healthcare students towards mental health challenges (MHCs) in a private medical university. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted to correlates the different determinants of university students with their knowledge towards MHCs in a private university in Malaysia. Validated questionnaires were distributed using a convenient stratified sampling technique among students studying in the different healthcare faculties, namely medicine, pharmacy and dentistry. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 24.0 was used to analyze the data. Results: Among 284 study participants, male students had less adequate knowledge than females. The majority of the students from the studied faculties had adequate knowledge of MHCs. Students of the age group of 25-30 years had adequate knowledge of MHCs. Multiple logistic regression revealed that statistically significant differences (p<0.05) were present among the three studied variables i.e., faculty, year of education and healthcare professionals in the family. Conclusion: Overall good knowledge of MHCs was observed among the studied cohort of the healthcare students of the private medical university. The present study concluded that faculty, year of education and healthcare professionals in the family were the observed determinants of knowledge about MHCs among the study participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to determine sociodemographic correlates of practice towards oral hygiene (OH) among university students in a private university. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed among university students in Malaysia using a prevalidated questionnaire. The convenient stratified sampling method was adopted to recruit participants from four main faculties of a private university. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 24.0 was used to analyze the data. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the correlates of practice of OH among the study participants. Results: Out of a total of 324 participants, female students had far-good practice towards OH than males. The final year students showed better OH practice than the pre-final years. Among the studied races, the Chinese students had the highest percentage of adequate practice than the rest. Overall, this study found that most of the students had fair to good practice towards OH. Conclusion: Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that statistically significant differences (p<0.05) were present among the six demographic variables. The current study found that age groups, race, faculty, year of education, parents' education, and healthcare professionals in the family were the sociodemographic correlates of practice towards OH among the university students in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease and if it is not treated properly it can cause various complications in patients. To improve the quality of life of the patients with diabetes mellitus needs the appropriate interventions from health care providers. The aim of this study was to measure the effect of pharmacist intervention on patient reported quality of life on all domains of EQ-5D.This randomized controlled study is carried out in different hospitals of Malaysia to evaluate the impact of a pharmacist intervention on patient reported quality of life when there HbA1c is controlled by pharmacist interventions. A generic HRQoL tool EQ-5D was used to report the data. To identifythe problems in individual EQ-5D domains and (VAS) mean scores ANCOVA and Logistic regression was used. The average HbA1c values decreased from 10.15±1.42 to 8.21±0.75 in the intervention group (p<0.05). The intervention group showed an improvement in the quality of life domains. Mobility domain decrease from 3.21±0.25 to 2.21±0.45(p<0.013), Self-care domain decrease from 4.11±0.75 to 3.291±0.85 (p<0.045), Usual activity domain decrease from 2.81±0.65 to 2.29±0.85 (p<0.655), Pain/Discomfort domain decrease from 3.19±0.34 to 2.91±0.65 (p<0.065), Anxiety/Depression domain decrease from 3.51±0.25 to 2.21±0.45 (p<0.015) and the VAS mean score is improved from 55.59±8 to 65.62±9 (p<0.005). Patientsfeatures were significantly related with the HRQoL in type 2 diabetes. The significant and positive improvement was seen among the different domains of EQ-5D with the intervention of pharmacist. With the intervention of pharmacist not only the HbA1c improves but also the all health-related domains also improved in patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The management of type 2 diabetes mellitus requires extra care not only from health care providers but also from the patients. In the health care system of Malaysia, pharmacists are delivering these DMTAC departments in hospitals. Objectives: This study aimed to appraise the effect of pharmacist intervention in the form of DMTAC services on type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in two different hospitals of Malaysia. Materials and Methods: The patients were randomly selected and divided in to two groups. Control group contained those 200 patients who were receiving usual treatment from hospitals whereas intervention group contained those 200 patients who were receiving usual treatment from hospitals together with separate counselling sessions with pharmacists from DMTAC departments. The study continued for one year and 4 visits for both groups. Results: Paired t-test and one-way ANOVA was carried out by SPSS 24. At the end, intervention group patients revealed a greater reduction in HbA1c level as compared to the control group patients (-0.93% vs. -0.19%; p < 0.001). Significant reductions in FBS was also revealed in both groups on each follow-up visits (p < 0.031, 0.043, 0.012, 0.045). Statistical significant reduction was also observed in Systolic and Diastolic BP of the patients (p 0.019). Similarly, statistical significant reduction in cholesterol level was also observed in both groups (p < 0. Conclusion: At the end of the study, intervention group of patients belongs to pharmacist from DMTAC department shows significant improvement in outcomes of diabetes mellitus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]