ABSTRACT
Purpose: The COVID-19 impact across major sectors did not exempt the low-cost housing (LCH) sub-sector. This may have increased the existing LCH demand-supply gap, especially in developing countries such as Malaysia. Studies showed that government policy (GP) aids in mitigating COVID-19 impact on goods and services, including housing-related issues. However, there is an academic literature scarcity regarding GP on LCH demand-supply gap during the COVID-19 crisis in Malaysia. Hence, this study aims to investigate the moderating effect of GP on the relationship between LCH demand-supply gap and COVID-19 impact in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach: The research utilised a quantitative method in collating the data from four major cities in Malaysia. SmartPLS was utilised to analyse the usable 305 questionnaires retrieved from respondents. Structuralist Theory supported the developed framework. Findings: Findings show that GP moderates the relationships between the LCH demand-supply gap and COVID-19 impact on Malaysia's low-income groups' (LIGs) homeownership delivery. It implies that the study's findings provide more understanding of issues influencing LCH demand-supply gap in the COVID-19 era via applying GP to mitigate the gap and improve homeownership for the disadvantaged. Practical implications: The study intends to stir policymakers toward formulating policies and programmes that will mitigate LCH demand-supply gap during the present and future pandemics. Originality/value: Besides the theoretical value of the developed model, policymakers can use the study's recommendations to mitigate future LCH demand-supply gaps during pandemics in developing countries using Malaysia as a case study. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
Background: Vitamin D deficiency is now a major global health problem. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in Indonesia is 60-90% in various studies. Age, race, sunscreen use, medication, and malabsorption diseases are all factors that affect vitamin D levels. Recent studies also show the relation between COVID-19 and vitamin D deficiency in severity and disease mortality. Vitamin D deficiency causes skeletal and extra-skeletal consequences. With limited studies on vitamin D levels of anesthesiology residents in Indonesia, we aim to determine the average vitamin D level and the affecting factors in this population. Materials and Methods: Sixty-nine anesthesiology residents working in a tertiary care hospital were enrolled in this study. The participants were asked to complete the questionnaire, and blood samples were drawn to measure serum 25(OH)D. The factors that influence vitamin D levels were recorded for analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 20. Results: The mean vitamin D level in anesthesiology residents was 39.99 ng/mL. There were no significant relationships between vitamin D levels among anesthesiology residents with vitamin D consumption, high-calcium foods, frequency of exercise, history of COVID-19 infection, comorbidities, and duration of exposure to sunlight. Conclusion: Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency was low among anesthesiology residents. Vitamin D levels were optimal in professionals who are taking vitamin D supplements. © 2022 National Journal of Clinical Anatomy ;Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow.
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Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV- 2) or COVID-19 pandemic was a highly contagious virus that was first reported in the city of Wuhan, China in December 2019. COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge to the global healthcare system and healthcare professionals including Indonesia. The first case found in Indonesia was in March 2020 and there were three peaks of the case, which were in January 2021, July 2021, and February 2022. Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, as a tertiary level and national referral hospital, was assigned as one of the biggest COVID-19 center hospitals in Indonesia. Throughout the pandemic, several policies regarding anesthesia practice were made, including the COVID-19 screening system and surgical patient pathway. Thus, there were two exclusive negative pressure operating rooms located in a centralized COVID-19 building and an emergency unit. Many surgical procedures were performed during the pandemic, including neurosurgical cases which involved neuro anesthesia practices that needed some adjustment due to the pandemic. There are two main questions that will be addressed in this research. First, Of all patients that undergo neurosurgery procedures how many have COVID-19. Second, Of all COVID- 19 patients that undergo surgery how many of them are neurosurgery. Method(s): This study was descriptive and involved a retrospective review of data collected from patients who underwent neurosurgeries between March 2020 and March 2022. Analyzes were performed according to COVID-19 status, age, classification case, type of surgery, and type of anesthesia. Result(s): A total of 933 neurosurgery cases and 488 COVID-19 surgery cases were identified. There were 26 neurosurgery cases with COVID 19. It was about 2.7% relative to all neurosurgery cases and about 5.3% relative to all COVID 19 surgery cases. General anesthesia was conducted in all of the cases. Fifty percent of the surgery was performed in centralized COVID-19 building operating room with elective setting, following 46% of cases was performed in emergency unit. There was one case was performed in catheterization lab. The population of cases was 65.3% in adult patients and 34.7% in pediatric population, consisted of eight vascular cases, seven oncology cases, seven infection cases, three trauma cases, and one congenital case. The procedure performed were 57.6% cerebrospinal fluid diversion, 34.6% craniotomy and 7,6% debridement.We followed our hospital established local COVID-19 guideline for surgical procedures, international guidelines, and recommendations, such as SNACC, to help deciding the risk stratification and time to perform the procedures. However, we have not performed transnasal procedure, awake craniotomy, and intraoperative neuromonitoring. All safety measures and infection control protocols were implemented. Conclusion(s): Neurosurgical procedures for patient with COVID-19 are considered uncommon with respect to all COVID-19 surgery cases and all neurosurgery cases. This information can be taken into consideration when making guidelines in the pandemic era. Further research are needed to explore impact of COVID-19 to neurosurgery patients.
ABSTRACT
Online learning research has garnered widespread interest during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the perspective of elementary and secondary school teachers on online learning is largely unknown. As such, this study sought to ascertain the perspectives of 276 elementary and secondary school teachers on online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. This study adopted a survey method using an online questionnaire to collect data, which was distributed via Google Forms. A descriptive analysis was performed on the collected data. The findings indicate that teachers in elementary and secondary schools in Indonesia believe their online learning is ineffective during the COVID-19 pandemic. One reason they rated their online learning ineffective during the COVID-19 pandemic is that their inability to adapt to a new culture of online instruction, which could be interpreted as a result of their classes not being prepared online. Therefore, the findings imply that an appropriate online instructional design for online learning must be prepared more comprehensively. Finally, the limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed. © 2022 by the authors.
ABSTRACT
Background: Mortality predictors are often used for analyzing disease progression as a guide for disease management strategy. The sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score is a predictor tool used to analyze organ dysfunction in critically ill patients. This study aimed to validate the SOFA score in predicting 28-day mortality in critically ill Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Methods: Subjects included in this study were critically ill, confirmed COVID-19 cases admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) between March and August 2020. Demographic data, clinical characteristics, and laboratory findings within the first 24 hours of ICU admission were obtained from medical records to compute the SOFA score. The 28-day outcome was recorded as alive or deceased. Validity was analyzed using the area under the curve (AUC), Hosmer-Leme-show goodness of fit, and bivariate logistic regression. The optimal cut-off point was determined statistically. Result: From the total of 88 subjects in this study, the mortality rate was 39.8%. AUC was 0.971 (confidence interval [CI] 95% 0.943-0.999), and the goodness of fit test by using Hosmer-Leme-show showed p=0.782. An optimal cut-off point of SOFA score was 6, with a sensitivity of 87% and specificity of 90%. Discussion: SOFA score demonstrated very strong discrimination and good calibration in predicting 28-day mortality on the critical case of COVID-19. Conclusion: The SOFA score is valid for predicting 28-day mortality in the critical case of COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
North Jakarta is the third most prevalent cases of COVID-19 in Jakarta. Koja, a subdistrict of North Jakarta, is famous for its populated area. Each house is closely-situated to each other which leads to high number of COVID cases. By engaging social health workers, Community Health Centre could leverage knowledge and resources to prevent COVID-19 transmission among the community. This study aimed to perceive the effectiveness of online training program in increasing social health workers’ knowledge about health promotion to prevent COVID-19. An online training was conducted among 35 social health workers in Koja, North Jakarta in December 2020. All participants were given a pre- and post-test based on training materials which include COVID-19 transmission at home, health protocol impacts towards covid-19 transmission, and nutrition and physical activities during pandemic era. Afterwards, the participants were also asked to give feedback about the training program. The comparison of pre- and post-test scores were statistically analysed using SPSS software to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program. The post test score was significantly higher than the pre-test score (p=0,025). The feedbacks about the training program were positive which include that it is clear and interesting (74%), easy to understand (65%), important (80%), and applicable on daily basis. More than half of the participant recommended the module to be hold regularly (54%) and would highly recommend the training to other people (57%). The training program is effective in increasing social health workers’ knowledge about health promotion to prevent COVID-19. © 2021 Teikyo University School of Medicine. All rights reserved.