scholarly journals Knowledge towards Prevention and Management of Dengue: A Cross-sectional Study among Dental, Medical and Pharmacy Students in a Private University, Malaysia

Author(s):  
Abdul Nazer Ali ◽  
Pushpaa Asokan ◽  
Chew Jia Hui ◽  
Chuah Hui Ying ◽  
Nazer Zulfikar Ahmed

Aim: The aim and objectives of the study were: 1) To assess the knowledge regarding dengue viral infection among undergraduate healthcare professional (HCP) students. 2) To investigate the association of socio-demographic factors towards dengue knowledge among the study participants. 3) To compare the dengue knowledge among the three HCP (Dental, Medical and Pharmacy) students. Study Design: A cross sectional study design was used in the study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in AIMST University campus, Kedah state, Malaysia between January, 2017 and June, 2017. Methods: The study was conducted among HCP students using pre-validated questionnaire with knowledge as a single dependent variable. The questionnaire was distributed in class room setting after obtaining informed consent forms signed by participants. The summary statistics for categorical variables was used with chi-square test to see if there was any association between the variables. Inferential statistics was done using Spearmans correlation. Results: Among the 636 participants, an overall good knowledge (≈90%) was observed regarding the cause, breeding sites and common clinical symptoms of dengue fever. However, poor knowledge was observed regarding the time of dengue mosquitoes bite (51%, P = .58) and transmission through blood transfusion (59%, P <.001). Very poor knowledge was observed regarding transmission through person to person contact (25%, P <.001). The median knowledge score was 12(3) ranging from 0 to 15. There was a statistically significant differences (P < .001) in response to 14/15 knowledge based items. Further, a statistically significant association between dengue knowledge score was observed among field of study (P < .05) and year of study (P < .006) variables. The Spearman's correlation test showed a weak positive correlation [rs(2) = 8.6, P < .01] and [rs(10) = 108, P < .001] between year of study and age categories for dengue knowledge scores. Conclusion: Overall, the HCP students in AIMST University showed good knowledge score towards dengue however, educational intervention programmes can further enrich their knowledge in the prevention, treatment and management of this deadly disease.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thinley Dorji ◽  
Saran Tenzin Tamang ◽  
TVSVGK Tilak

Background: Bhutan lacks a medical school and all their medical students are trained outside in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India. When the COVID-19 pandemic let to closure of medical schools in these countries, the Bhutanese medical students were repatriated in March-April 2020. Upon return, they were kept in government-sponsored facility quarantine for 21 days. This study assessed their knowledge on COVID-19 as a part of self-learning and attitude as part of preparedness towards participation in government's health response to COVID-19. Method: This was a cross-sectional study among medical students who had returned to the country. This survey was conducted through an online questionnaire while the students were in 21-day facility quarantine. The sample size calculated was 129 and a convenient sampling was used. Knowledge was assessed using 20 questions, each scored 1/20. Cumulative score of score of >=80% was categorized as "good knowledge", score of >=60-79% was considered "satisfactory knowledge", and score <60% was considered "poor knowledge." Correlation between knowledge score and duration of clinical clerkship was tested using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Attitude of students towards their willingness to participate in the national COVID-19 response were tested using rating scales. Data were analysed using Stata 13.1. Results: 120 medical students responded to this survey (response rate = 93%). Eighty-eight (74%) had good knowledge, 28 (23%) had satisfactory knowledge and only four (3%) had poor knowledge on COVID-19. The students scored high on the symptomatology, mode of transmission, prevention and treatment options and on local epidemiology; and scored low on the forms of mechanical ventilations and on the home-management of non-critical cases. The knowledge score correlated with duration of clinical clerkship (r = 0.326, p = 0.001). The primary source of information were social media sites (102, 85%), television (94, 78%) and newspapers (76, 63%). The majority (78, 65%) were willing to participate in the government's COVID-19 response but could not identify what roles they could play. The fear of contracting COVID-19 was reported in only in 8.7%. Conclusions: The medical students had good knowledge on COVID-19 and were self-learned through social media, television and newspapers. The students held positive attitude towards participation in the government's COVID-19 response.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 190-206
Author(s):  
Chin Mun Wong ◽  

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Zika infection as Public Health Emergency of International Concern in 2016. In this study, we aimed to assess the knowledge and risk perception towards Zika infection among the forest fringe population in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study of with 433 adult respondents in Malaysia completed the assisted-administered validated questionnaire on knowledge and perception to Zika infection. Bidirectional analysis on the person and item abilities were tested using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Rasch. The knowledge and perception levels were tested against significant sociodemographic or socioeconomic variables using Pearson’s Chi Square; covariates were then adjusted at multivariate level using binary logistic regression. Both knowledge and perception domains were well-targeted. Complementing results from SPSS and Rasch showed poor knowledge and poor risk perception levels in slightly more than half of the respondents [knowledge score: 50.8% (SPSS), 55.4% (Rasch); perception score: (58.0% (SPSS), 58.2% (Rasch)]. With covariates adjusted, non-bumiputra (non-natives) of higher education level, higher household income and recent jungle visits showed good knowledge level. Adult, menopaused women from Perak state showed better risk perception level towards Zika. Majority of the forest fringe population in Malaysia have poor knowledge and risk perception towards the Zika infection. This questionnaire is a suitable tool to assess knowledge and perception towards Zika infection among the forest fringe populations in Southeast Asia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-267
Author(s):  
AE Ladele ◽  
JO Ogunkoya ◽  
CJ Elikwu ◽  
TA Oyedele ◽  
KE Tuta ◽  
...  

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at high risk of contracting and spreading the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease putting themselves, the patients and the community at large at risk. Therefore, there is a need for adequate preparedness in the face of this pandemic. Objectives: To assess the knowledge of HCW (clinical and non-clinical) on COVID-19, determine the level of HCWs preparedness against COVID-19 and evaluate the level of preparedness of the hospital facility against COVID-19. Methods: Purposive sampling technique was used in this cross-sectional study. A self-administered questionnaire adapted from a validated questionnaire was used to collect appropriate data on socio-demographics, knowledge about COVID 19 and preparedness. Results: A total of 170 HCWs with a mean age of 34.7±6.9 years participated in this study. More than half (56.5%; 96/170) were females. The average knowledge score among clinical staff was 9.04±13.77, with 80 clinical staff having good knowledge of COVID-19. The majority of non-clinical staff had a fair knowledge of COVID-19 with an average knowledge score of 5.11±47.07. About 63.4% were not confident enough in caring for a suspected coronavirus case even though more than half (57.6%) have had formal training in Infection Prevention and Control and above 77% (131/170) confirmed the availability of PPE in their facility. However, about three-quarters (74.7%; 127/170) believed the hospital is well prepared to manage COVID-19 cases. Conclusion: This study revealed that this cohort of HCWs have good knowledge of COVID-19 and are convinced that they and their facility are well prepared for outbreaks of COVID-19.


Author(s):  
Shuaa Z. Alshammari ◽  
Isamme AlFayyad ◽  
Youssef Altannir ◽  
Mohamad Al-Tannir

Parental beliefs about vaccination are one of the main factors in reaching high vaccination rates. This cross-sectional study aims to assess the awareness and attitudes regarding routine childhood immunization among Saudi parents in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This survey, with a pretested 18-item questionnaire, was conducted on parents having at least one child from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between 1 May 2019 and 1 November 2019. The validated questionnaire consisted of three sections; participants’ demographics, awareness, and attitude regarding the immunization of their children. In total, 1200 parents participated in the study, 883 (73.3%) of the parents scored a good knowledge of childhood immunization, and 93% knew that routine vaccination protects children from infectious diseases and their complications. Around 10% stated that immunization can cause autism. Only parents in age groups 30–39 and 40–49 were 1.76 (p < 0.05) times and 1.92 (p < 0.05) times, respectively, more likely to exhibit good knowledge. About 522 (43.6) of the parents attained a positive attitude toward immunization. Adherence to the immunization schedule was confirmed important by 93%, while 91% presumed that immunization keeps their children healthy. Additionally, immunization was perceived as important by 94% of parents and only 8% agreed that immunization is prohibited by religion. Females were 1.45 (p < 0.05) times more likely to exhibit positive attitudes than males. Parents have good knowledge and a positive attitude towards child immunization. However, parental education should be focused on the fact that religion supports immunization, and more awareness should be focused on the lack of correlation between autism and vaccination.


2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sari Lisa Sugiarti ◽  
Prijono Sigit ◽  
Moch Yulianto

Magetan vegetable market is a class 1 market in accordancewith Regulation Number 3 2011. It isthe largest market in kabupaten Magetan, as seen from the large area coverage and number of tradersdoing business and amount of retribution collected everyday. Magetan vegetable market is located JalanMayjen Sungkono Number 07 Magetan covering an area of 10,000 m2 and devided into 5 blocks. Thedaily operating hours is 04.00 pm - 21.00 pm.The sanitation facilities especially the bathrooms or toilets and garbage bins in this market are inpoor condition, while sellers operating in this market seemed not to care about the state of the sanitationfacilities. The purpose of this study was to illustrate the behavioral aspects of traders with regard tosanitation facilities in Magetan Vegetable Market, by assessingtheir working knowledge, attitude, actionsand behavior of traders toward the care of sanitation facilities provided in the market.This was a descriptive, a cross-sectional study that performed directly in the field. The studycovered a total of 295 respondents drawn from a total population of 1,121 merchants by quota type non-probability sampling.With regard to the level of merchants' behavior in the Market, their behaviour relating to themaintenance of sanitation facilities was poor. The level of good behavior was represented by 40,67%, andpoor behaviour was indicated by 54,33% of respondents. Their working knowledge associated with effortsthe maintenance sanitation facilities in this Vegetable Market can be divided into "good knowledge andgood behavior" (68,05%), "good knowledge with poor behavior" (31,95%). In addition to that, thoseclassified as having "poor knowledge and poor behavior" amounted to 94,44%, while the "poor knowledgeand good behavior" amounted to 5,56%. It is therefore necessaryto elaborate their working knowledge,attitudes and actions and hoping that they are willing to partidpate in the effort of careing for existingsanitation facilities in Magetan Vegetable Market.


2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Osemene Kanayo Patrick ◽  
Afolabi Margaret Olubunmi

Studies on pharmacovigilance (PV) activities in Nigeria focused on perceptions of PV among professional healthcare workers are described here. There is paucity of information on pharmacy students’ knowledge about PV activities. Hence, this study, evaluated the knowledge and perceptions of final year pharmacy students about PV activities using descriptive and inferential statistics. A cross sectional study was undertaken in three Nigerian universities with a pretested questionnaire during the period of January and February, 2016. The questionnaire included closed-ended questions on demographic variables and questions designed to achieve the objectives of the study. Data was analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics 20 and presented in percentages, means, standard deviations and median at 50% percentile. The mean knowledge score of pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reporting for the final year students was 4.25±0.18. There were significant differences in the mean scores of knowledge domain by age groups 21-24 years 4.8±0.70, 25-30 years 6.2 ± 0.84 and >30 years 4.6±0.72 at p=0.001; gender: male 4.1±1.20 and female 4.4±0.98 at (p=0.0001) as well as the current universities attended as follows University 1 with a scrore of 5.1±1.03, University 2 had a mean score of 6.3±0.99 at p=0.0120 and University 3 with a mean score of 4.3±1.01 at p=0.012. Furthermore, significant difference exist in the mean values of pharmacovigilance knowledge between those who had taking some courses in pharmacovigilance (7.3± 0.22) and those who did not (4.7 ± 0.13) at p=0.0001. Generally, the students had inadequate knowledge of PV activities. Therefore, emphasis on relevant PV courses in their curriculum is necessary.Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 20(1): 1-13, 2017


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Freitas de Sousa Viana ◽  
Geilson Lessa de Magalhães ◽  
Eulália Heleodora Santana Martins dos Santos

Little is known about the knowledge of pharmacy students about the correct ways for drug disposal. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and practice of the pharmacy students about drug disposal. A descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out with questionnaire application to 182 pharmacy students in Brazil between October and November of 2016. Data analyzes of the categorical variables were performed using descriptive statistics. The Chi-square test (X2) was used to evaluate the possible differences in the frequency between the form of medication discard according to dichotomous variables. Sixty-four point eight percent of the students reported discarding the drugs incorrectly, being that 48.8% do it in the household garbage. About 32% of the interviewers believed that the dispensation of the medicines beyond the exact amount for treatment is the main reason for the leftover. The chi-square test showed a higher correct disposal index from the 6th to the 10th period compared to the 1st to the 5th and according to previous guidance. Sixty-seven point six percent considered incorrect your way of drug disposal, 63.7% suggested the special collection as the correct destination and 84.6% reported knowing the consequences of improper disposal. This study showed that the majority of pharmacy students discards the overdue and/or unused drugs in an environmentally inadequate manner, but the correct disposal is more significant with the advance of the course period.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 5134-5140
Author(s):  
Saswatika Beura ◽  
Lipilekha Patnaik ◽  
Manisha Sahoo ◽  
Sumitra Pattanaik

Majority women attain menopause without having adequate knowledge and approaches to cope with the menopausal changes. So, they face many physical and psychological disorders during their menopause. Awareness, positive attitude and healthy practice towards menopause can help women to reduce their menopausal symptoms. Women who are had menopause more than 12 months were included in the study. In this study, 80.8% women had poor knowledge and 73.1% women having positive attitude towards menopause. But none of the participants reported healthy practices in their menopause. 44.2% women had knowledge that postmenopausal bleeding was abnormal, 36.5% women said that menopause is associated with many chronic diseases and 32.7% said that menstruation does not stop suddenly at the time of menopause. In our study 90.4% of participants positively accepted their menopause. Knowledge score was significantly associated with age and education. The perceived poor knowledge and practice towards menopause require more efforts for creating mass awareness about this issue.


Author(s):  
Shweta Shirke ◽  
Amar Katre

Introduction:Fluoridated toothpastes account for the worldwide decline in caries prevalence,though knowledge of parents pertaining to it is scarce. Hence, the aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and the perception of parents about toothpastes used in 2-12 year-old children. Methodology: Seventy five parents were administered a 12-point validated questionnaire to assess their knowledge and perception through variables such as purpose, contents, harm, etc. The categorical variables were represented as proportions and assessed using x2 test. Results: 59% of parents chose the toothpastes for prevention of tooth decay. 37% of parents were aware about the benefits of the toothpastes (p<0.168).while80% of parents were unaware about the harms of fluoridated toothpastes (p<0.775). Few parents were aware about the contents of the toothpastes, statistically significant (p<0.003). Conclusion: Parents had limited knowledge pertaining to contents, benefits and harms of the toothpastes. Keywords: Toothpaste, knowledge, perception, parents


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-215
Author(s):  
Shumaila Aslam ◽  
Muhammad Afzal ◽  
Robina Kousar ◽  
Ali Waqas ◽  
Syed Amir Gilani

Background:  In order to maintain the health, the homeostasis dynamics and balance process is most important. Among the critically ill cardiac surgery patients the homeostasis is imbalance and results in insufficient tissues perfusion and many organs of the body lead to the failure condition. It is necessary to monitor actively the intake and output during electrolytes administration in the cardiac surgery patients.Objectives: To assess the knowledge and practice of the registered nurses about fluid and electrolytes monitoring and administration in the cardiac surgery patients. Methodology: This study is of descriptive and cross sectional study design. The questioner of knowledge and practices regarding fluid and electrolytes administration was adopted from the article of Vijayan (Vijayan, 2011) which is based on 5-point Likert scale. The data was collected from 208 nurses of Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, Pakistan. Conclusion: The findings of the current study show that the nurses have poor knowledge and practices of nurses, so, public hospital’s administration should focus on the strategies and activities which become helpful to increase the knowledge and practices of nurses regarding fluid and electrolytes administration. Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 5(2): 208-215


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