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Objectives: To promote a holistic approach to healthcare, the University of Cyberjaya introduced a unique elective course called sports pharmacy, which incorporates components of lifestyle interventions. Customers increasingly seek guidance about lifestyle factors that impact their health. Pharmacists with expertise in sports and exercise can meet this need. However, there is a lack of studies on the impact of non-pharmacological approaches (NPAs) on health parameters among healthcare professionals and pharmacy students in Malaysia. The objectives of this study were to compare students’ health parameters based on NPAs and identify the factors that motivate students to maintain their health. Materials and Methods: The study comprised 47 Year 4 pharmacy students in the pre- and post-practical phases (September 2018 and November 2018), followed by the post-resting phase (May 2019). The data collection form in the Sport Pharmacy course was used for the data collection. Results: Nearly half of the students initially displayed a normal body mass index (BMI). However, after the post-resting period, there was a noticeable increase in the number of students categorized as obese and those with elevated total cholesterol (TC) and fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels. Specifically, in the pre-study phase, out of 47 participants, 22 were within the normal BMI (47%), six underweight (13%), nine overweight (19%), and ten obese (21%). The intervention phase showed a slight reduction in the overweight category, while the obese category showed an increase. For TC, the pre-phase had 70% of participants within the normal range, with 26% borderline high and 4% high. Post-study, showed an improvement, likely influenced by controlled dietary intake and physical activity. In the post-resting phase, however, there was a regression as the majority did not adhere to the non-pharmacological regimen. FBG demonstrated significant changes after the intervention, particularly within the normal range (≤ 6.0 mmol/L), showing the only statistically significant change across parameters. While the post-resting phase saw a minor increase, it remained below baseline. Approximately 23% continued diet control, while 32% maintained physical activity. Key motivations included health improvement, visible results, and improved well-being, while lack of motivation, time, and study schedules were primary discontinuation factors. Conclusion: The 10-week intervention significantly impacted FBG but had limited influence on BMI and TC. Post-resting outcomes highlight that only a small fraction maintained the non-pharmacological approach, resulting in no marked changes in any parameters. Recommendations include further long-term studies to confirm the sustained benefits and the role of educational institutions in supporting such interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health literacy (HL) is an important aspect of various literacies in the field of health and education. Medication adherence is important for effective treatment regimens and managing several health conditions. Scoping review was conducted to define health literacy and its effects on medication adherence among chronic disease. Articles from PubMed and Google Scholar with selected keywords were selected for review. Inclusion criteria were adults aged 18 and above with chronic diseases in the community. Data was collected and reviewed by two researchers. All included articles were summarized to understand the relationship between health literacy and medication adherence among patients with chronic diseases. A total of 13 out of 18153 articles were found and included in this review. Three articles defined health literacy, and ten articles were reviewed for the correlation between health literacy and medication adherence in patients with chronic diseases. Out of the ten articles, four focused on nonspecific chronic diseases, three on type 2 diabetes mellitus, and three on hypertension. Understanding health literacy's definition can affect medication adherence. Health literacy together with medication adherence can be affected naturally, and interventions are necessary to improve them. Individual differences also play a role in health literacy and medication adherence. The relationship between health literacy and also medication adherence heavily affects individuals with chronic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The health information system with efficient processes and development in healthcare technology including an electronic clinical documentation (ECD) reporting draws the interest of a large number of people. Widespread expansion of the use of ECD is known to be advantageous to the health information system, however a workload is often questionable for healthcare professionals and productivity practices. The aim of this study is to analyse the perception of nurses in regards to the relationship between perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and perceived system quality of ECD system. Methods: The cross-sectional survey comprised of a population of nurses practising in clinical settings at private hospitals in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A total of 324 questionnaires was collected by using stratified random sampling with a 99% response rate. Smart-PLS was used to analyse the relationship between the latent variables. Results: The perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and perceived system quality have a significantly positive influence, resulting in a positive impact on the perception of nurses. The results of this research showed that the model's R2 value was scored at 0.743, which indicated that 74.3% of the variance in perception on ECD was collectively explained by the three exogenous latent variables. Conclusion: Positive perception on ECD system could be used as prediction on the acceptance by the user/nurses. This study is useful for top management and policymakers to strategise on ECD's implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Globally, the population of older people is on the rise. As families are burdened with the high cost of care for aging members, demand is increasing for medical care and nursing homes. Thus, medication management is crucial to ensure that residents in a care center benefit and assist the management of the care center in reducing the burden of health care. This study is aimed to qualitatively explore issues related to medication management in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). Participants and methods: A total of 11 stakeholders comprising health care providers, administrators, caretakers and residents were recruited from a list of registered government, nongovernmental organization and private RACFs in Malaysia from September 2016 to April 2017. An exploratory qualitative study adhering to Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Studies was conducted. In-depth interview was conducted with consent of all participants, and the interviews were audio recorded for later verbatim transcription. Observational analysis was also conducted in a noninterfering manner. Results and discussion: Three themes, namely medication use process, personnel handling medications and culture, emerged in this study. Medication use process highlighted an unclaimed liability for residents' medication by the RACFs, whereas personnel handling medications were found to lack sufficient training in medication management. Culture of the organization did affect the medication safety and quality improvement. The empowerment of the residents in their medication management was limited. There were unclear roles and responsibility of who manages the medication in the nongovernment-funded RACFs, although they were well structured in the private nursing homes. Conclusion: There are important issues related to medication management in RACFs which require a need to establish policy and guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Around 100,000 Rohingya refugees have migrated to Malaysia since 1978 and developed diabetes mellitus (DM) over time. DM is a serious chronic disease that requires self-management to reduce its complications. There lies a concern here in an already vulnerable population. Objectives: To determine the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of DM among Rohingya refugees attending IMARET mobile clinic, Selayang. Materials and methods: The study was a cross sectional study utilizing structured questionnaires and respondents were interviewed with the help of a translator. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. Independent t-test, ANOVA test and correlations test were used. Results: A total of 56 respondents participated in this study. Majority of respondents was female (73.2%), in age group between 31-40 years, married (83.9%), and around a fifth, 21.4% had diabetes mellitus. There were significant differences of knowledge between respondents with history of diabetes mellitus (p<0.001). There was significance in respondents attitude score in history of DM (p<0.001) with marital status (p=0.008) as well as differences in practice score of history of DM (p=0.039) with different occupations (p=0.037). Conclusion: There was a moderate score of knowledge, good positive attitude, and moderate score of practice towards diabetes mellitus. Adequate DM health education to non-DM and DM care to Rohingya refugees may reduce complications and avert further distresses to their quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]