Knowledge and Perception of Paediatric Drug Dosing: Impact of Paediatric Drug Dosing Workshop.

BACKGROUND: Paediatric patients frequently encounter medication errors caused by the requirement for individualised drug dose estimates based on weight, age variance, and drug pharmacokinetics. One thing contributing to drug dosing errors is the lack of healthcare personnel's knowledge of paediatric drug dosing. The present study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and perception regarding the workshop on paediatric drug dosing among undergraduate pharmacy students. METHOD: A prospective pre-post study was conducted. A virtual workshop on paediatric drug dosing was designed and developed by the clinical pharmacy lecturer from Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) for pharmacy students. An online questionnaire with 15 questions regarding knowledge of paediatric drug dosing and perception of the virtual workshop on paediatric drug dosing was used to evaluate pharmacy students' knowledge pre- and post-workshop. RESULT: Twenty-six students took part in the study (100%). In the pre-workshop on paediatric drug dosing calculation, most students had poor knowledge of the paediatric drug dosing calculation, scored 8 out of 15, 26.92% between 9 to 11 and only 11.54% scored ≥ 12. There was a statistically significant difference in median knowledge score between pre- and post-workshop (p< 0.05). Among the students, 73.08% stated that they strongly agreed that the online workshop attracted their attention and 76.92% of students strongly agreed that they were able to calculate paediatric drug dosing after joining the online workshop. CONCLUSION: Results demonstrate that pharmacy students have insufficient knowledge of paediatric drug dosing calculations. Virtual workshop is one strategy that could improve the pharmacy students' knowledge.

Diabetes knowledge, attitude, and practice among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in Kuala Muda District, Malaysia - A cross-sectional study.

Diabetes is among leading public health concerns in Malaysia due to premature and preventable mortality involving macro and microvascular complications. Diabetes knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) are vital in diabetes management. The present study assessed the level of diabetes KAP among type 2 diabetes patients with associated and correlated factors through a self-administered questionnaire-based study on a convenience sample of 386 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in Kuala Muda District, Kedah, Malaysia. Majority of the respondents possessed levels above the cut-off points for poor levels in knowledge (63.21%), attitude (62.69%), and practices (58.03%). Age, academic qualification, occupation, monthly income, current therapy type, comorbid diseases, and therapy preference were associated with KAP whereas the associations of disease duration, the best source of information about diabetes, and health status satisfaction were witnessed for attitude and practice. Academic qualification had strongest correlation for knowledge (r = 0.785), attitude (r = 0.725), and practice (r = 0.709). Knowledge level was significantly correlated with attitude level (r = 0.735), practice level (r = 0.786), income (r = 0.556), occupation (r = 0.358), age (r = 0.173), current therapy type (r = 0.133), and diabetes education exposure (r = 0.113). Attitude level had significant correlations with practice level (r = 0.679), income (r = 0.357), occupation (r = 0.348), health status satisfaction (r = 0.147), age (r = 0.145), and gender (r = 0.109). Practice level correlated significantly with income (r = 0.448), occupation (r = 0.317), age (r = 0.173), health status satisfaction (r = 0.167), and current therapy type (r = 0.118). All associations and correlations were significant at P < 0.005. Although overall having good levels of diabetes KAP, educational interventions are required to further improve diabetes KAP.