ABSTRACT
To study the characteristics of paediatric patients admitted to two non-COVID-19 teaching hospitals before and during the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia. The retrospective study was performed in two phases (before MCO between February to March 2020, and during MCO lockdown between March to April 2020) in two teaching hospitals on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Hospitalized children <18 years were included and those coming for elective procedures or oncology treatment were excluded. The clinical data were retrieved from both hospitals' admission records. There was a total of 496 and 191 admissions to two teaching hospitals on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, respectively. A significant reduction in the number of non-COVID-19 hospital admissions was seen in both hospitals. For Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, the daily hospital admissions were reduced with a mean of 10 (before MCO) to 7 (during MCO) admissions/day (95% CI 1.54,7.54, p=0.001). In Sultan Ahmad Shah Medical Centre, a reduction in hospital admission was seen from 5 (before MCO) to 3 (during MCO) admissions/day (95% CI 0.61, 3.15, p=0.005). Our study observed a general drop in non-COVID-related respiratory illnesses and infectious disease cases during the MCO period. There were significant differences in neurological (p=0.029) and accident (p = 0.001) cases admissions observed between the two periods. Copyright © 2022, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 has affected university medical students, resulting in the new norm of learning and practice. Understanding these students' knowledge, attitude and their practice would be essential as they would serve as the future doctor in Malaysia. The study attempted to evaluate medical students' knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) in the east coast states of Peninsular Malaysia. An online and multi centre cross-sectional study was undertaken among all the three public medical schools in the east coast region of Peninsular Malaysia, between 8th July to 21st July 2020. The questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic data and the three domains which included COVID-19 KAP. Students were invited to participate via social media platform such as WhatsApp and students' email. A total of 1,008 medical students voluntarily participated in the study with female to male ratio of 2.6:1. A total of 356 (35.3%) of the medical students had satisfactory knowledge score, with 75% of them were female. The majority of the students had positive attitude towards COVID-19 and practiced meticulous social distancing during the pandemic. We noted that seniority influenced knowledge score, and this was evident as 264 (26.2%) of the students were in their clinical year. Overall, the knowledge scores regarding COVID-19 among the medical students in East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia was reasonable and there were opportunities to augment these standards. Meticulous plans are needed to enhance knowledge and preparedness of the current crops of medical students to be competent future frontliner for Malaysia. © Malaysian Association of Education in Medicine and Health Sciences and Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia. 2022
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Parents with autistic children are more susceptible of developing stress due to genuine challenges in treasuring them. During the world pandemic disaster of COVID-19 emergency, the challenge is far greater than expected as movement control order restricted them to seek for help and resources as the country adopting strict isolation measurement to restrain COVID-19 virus infection. This survey was conducted online to determine the prevalence of stress, independent predictor and assessing coping style that help to overcome them. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using Facebook platform. The survey was posted into Autisme Malaysia group for 2 weeks duration from 17th June until 30th June 2020. Stress was measured using Malay version of Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and coping style using Brief COPE questionnaire. Independent t-test was used to determine coping style associated with stress and multiple logistic regression for independent stress predictor. Results: The mean age of respondents was 38.9 years old with mean child’s age was 8.6 years old. Majority of respondents were female, Malay, and married couples with 83.1% of the caregivers were having stress. The independent predictor for stress were age of the caregivers and the level of education. The approach style of coping was significantly associated with stress. Conclusion: The pandemic has directly and indirectly contributed to stress prevalence among caregivers of children with autism. Hence, the right coping style should be embraced and empowered to parents for healthier stress therapy. Our findings recommended that coping style of informational support, behavioural disengagement, religion and acceptance as dynamic model of coping style. © 2022 UPM Press. All rights reserved.