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
Introduction: Compliance with Hand hygiene (HH) has been considered as a simple and the most efficient strategy to reduce hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). Compliance with this practice is not often assessed in Nigeria and thus posed a significant risk to the quality of care and patient safety and especially in this era of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aimed to assess neonatal nurses’ compliance to “my five moments for HH”. Method: A cross-sectional observational study was carried out in a Nigerian federal hospital, using an adapted version of a standardized observational WHO tool of ‘’my five moments of HH’’. A Chi-square test was employed to examine the relationship of HH compliance across units, shifts, and “my five moments for HH” opportunities. Results: The observer recorded 425 HH opportunities and the total HH compliance rate was (62.8%). There was no association between the units, working shifts, and nurses’ HH compliance. Compliance to HH was dependent on the five moments of HH (p < 0.000), better compliance was seen after body fluid exposure (100%), followed by after newborn contact (86.3%), and after contact with newborn surroundings (63.4%), while compliance before newborn contact (28.5%), and before an aseptic procedure (9.1%) were poor. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed a significant gap with the HH compliance among neonatal nurses, suggesting multiple opportunities for neonatal infections despite the current awareness of HH in the Covid-19 pandemic. Hence, there is a need to intensify infection control practices in Nigeria, especially on HH practice. © 2022 UPM Press. 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
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess hand hygiene (HH) facilities and to measure HH compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic among pediatric nurses in a single Nigerian federal university teaching hospital. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study utilizing the WHO HH observational design. Compliance data were collected by a trained observer using the WHO "my five moments for HH" checklist, while HH facilities were assessed using the infection and control assessment form. The data were analysed using SPSS software version 26.0. A Chi-square test was employed to determine the compliance across units, shifts, and "my five moments for HH". Results: Most HH facilities in the study were non-functional and inadequate. The overall compliance rate was 38.1%, based on the 561 HH opportunities recorded. The compliance rate was similar across the unit and shift, but varied according to "my five moments for HH" (p<0.001). HH compliance was found to be decreased in the moments before the contact with childt (5.6%) and before an aseptic procedure (1.1%). Better compliance was observed after body fluid exposure (100%), after the contact with child (61.2%), and after the contact with the child's environment (61.4%). Conclusion: The study found inadequate HH facilities, possibly contributing to poor HH compliance. Local facilities need to be restructured to ensure adequate access to resources which would indirectly increase HH practice and compliance, especially in the pediatric settings where HH is very crucial.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 outbreak started late 2019 has systematically changed the lives of people around the globe. Medical schools have to implement changes in the teaching methodology to observe social distancing order. The pandemic perpetuates a paradigm shift in medical teaching, from face-to-face to virtual and online teaching. Virtual teaching has become the new learning norm but limited in replacing clinical teaching. It has been considered as one of the most viable options for the long-term durability and continuity of medical education. The fluidity of such educational changes, especially during the pandemic warrants preparation of the online infrastructure learning, literacy of the learners and preparation by the teachers during this period. Malaysian Association of Education in Medicine and Health Sciences and Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia. 2021