Kamarudin Ahmad

Hospital Miri · Department of Pharmacy

Aims This study presents a protocol for the Pharmacy Integrated Community Care (PICC) program, meticulously designed to enhance Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels and augment knowledge about diabetes mellitus (DM) among individuals diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) in the Sarawak State of Malaysia. Methods From 1 May to December 31, 2023,...

Introduction: The pharmacy drive-through service (P.D.T.S.) is an innovative medication dispensing service that aims to reduce the hurdles of collecting medications. Through the P.D.T.S., patients may have the convenience of getting medication at the drive-through pharmacy counter. By conducting a qualitative study, we explored the user’s experienc...

The Pharmacy value-added services (PVAS) has been implemented in Malaysian public hospitals to facilitate the collection of follow-up medications. In specific, PV AS include Integrated Drug Dispensing System, Medicine by Post, Drive-Through Pharmacy, and many more. While past studies examined the satisfaction towards PV AS and its impact on patient...

ABSTRACT Introduction: Breast cancer is one of the common, life-threatening cancer among women worldwide. However, diagnosis tends to occur at a later stage, negatively affecting prognosis and treatment outcomes. Raising public awareness and knowledge could possibly contribute to early detection, hence improve survival rates. We aimed to develop a...

Pharmacists have been playing important roles in promoting health, prevent diseases and deliver healthcare services to individuals, communities and nations. Such functions have further emphasised and expanded amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Notwithstanding, most of the recent publications highlight the roles of community pharmacists amidst this pande...

IIntroduction: Patient safety is a crucial component of quality healthcare. Understanding the existing patient safety culture in a healthcare organisation is essential for improving patient safety. Objectives: The objectives of the study are to explore the role of supervisor/manager, communication (communication openness and feedback about error)...

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioural challenges. Objectives: We aimed to assess the knowledge of pharmacists and doctors about childhood autism in Miri Hospital and investigate the association between age, gender, ethnicity, years of working and...

Evaluating the quality of online health information has been a primary concern for many years due to its unregulated nature. Individuals living with life-threatening and chronic diseases search online for health information. This information exert influence on their health beliefs, health behaviours, intentions and health care decision making. Type...

Introduction: Comorbidity is the occurrence of one or more disease with the existence of one indexed disease. Comorbidity is associated with deteriorated physical function, reduced health-related quality of life and work participation outcome. Measures of comorbidity typically use information from the medical record or administrative data. However,...

ABSTRACT Introduction: In Malaysia, the healthcare services have developed structurally, transforming the country into one of the healthiest countries in the tropics. However, there is a gap to ensure continuous drug availability. Sarawak is one of the states in Malaysia, run a three-tier system of managing health commodities which are the suppli...

Introduction: Pharmacy professionals widely use the internet for seeking health-related information, obtaining professional updates, accessing the latest research, treatment information, or latest product. The enormous online information available may be overwhelming, leading to stressful situations in terms of filtering, selecting sound output in...

ABSTRACT Introduction: The term “activity trackers” refers to all devices that provide physical activitytracking functions. These devices include fitness bands, smartphones, and smartwatches. The data generated by sensors in these activity trackers are often presented to the user via health/wellness applications, creating a new type of personal hea...

Introduction Inappropriate use of medicine is a serious public health issue. Malaysia launched Know Your Medicine (KYM) campaign in 2007 to promote the appropriate use of medicines (AUOM). However, little studies were done to evaluate the extent of awareness level towards the campaign and AUOM among Sarawak population. Objective To explore the awa...

Introduction: Presence of psychological morbidity in provisionally registered pharmacist has been reported from various hospitals. Therefore, the presence of anxiety and depression among PRP assessed using AKUADS scale and the association with factors such as age, facilities, gender, race, religion, marital status, financial burden, family history...

Introduction: Sleeping is a positive attribute leading us to be more productive and live a healthier lifestyle. As sleep is an important modulator of neuroendocrine function and glucose metabolism, more studies are directed to evaluate the relationship between sleep quality and weight gain as well as health. Evidences are rapidly accumulating showi...

Introduction: Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) can be potentially harmful and although not all adverse drugs effects (ADEs) can easily predicted, exposure to a DDI is a medical error that can be prevented. Pharmacists play a key role in identifying DDIs to enhance the safety of medication management. Objective: The objective of the study is to asses...

Background: The increasing pharmaceutical expenditures and the strive for sustainable health care are challenges faced worldwide. High medicine prices and out-of-pocket expenditures are barriers to treatment access that may lead to catastrophic outcomes. Specifically for Malaysia, an upper-middle income country, health expenditure was 4.5% of Gross...

Introduction: Depression, anxiety and stress are common among healthcare professionals as they need to deal with patients’ health condition from time to time. Objective: The purpose of the study is to determine the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress among doctors, pharmacists and nurses working in Hospital Miri, Sarawak, and its assoc...

INTRODUCTION: The development of oral antineoplastic agents (OAA) allows chemotherapy patients to receive a home-based therapy. The shift of treatment paradigm from inpatient to outpatient basis has indirectly transferred the responsibility in ensuring the proper use of anticancer drugs to the patient or caregiver and other healthcare profession...

A major outbreak of HFMD virus reported in Sarawak, Malaysia involving 29 fatal cases. This this study explore, epidemiology and clinical characteristics of HFMD in Sarawak which aims to study the trend of HFMD outbreak in Sarawak as well to create awareness among the community on the severity of HFMD. A search strategy was employed to obtain rela...

INTRODUCTION: Job burnout is a psychological syndrome that involves a prolonged response to stressors in the workplace. There are several causes that contributes to burnout syndrome; prolonged stress, heavy workload burden and hostile working environment, under appreciation and sense of loss of control. Pharmacy is a high yielding for burnout due t...

Introduction: Participation in continuing professional development (CPD) is a professional and regulatory expectation of pharmacists. Pharmacists required to keep a CPD portfolio as a record of the list of learning activities attended. Online knowledge resources have been increasingly available to pharmacists and could be listed as a learning ac...

Introduction: According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline, hand hygiene needed as thousands of people die around the world from infections acquired during the process of receiving healthcare. Transmission of healthcare-associated pathogens generally occurs via the contaminated hands of healthcare workers. Pharmacists regarded as heal...

Objectives: Pharmacists dispense a high volume of prescription each day. Majority of pharmacists indicated the risk of dispensing errors was increasing and most of them were aware of dispensing errors. This study will explore the cause and prevention of errors. Methods: A cross sectional survey done among all dispensing pharmacists in Miri Gener...

INTRODUCTION: ‘Know Your Medicines’ Programme introduced by Health Ministry as part of Quality Use of Medicines activities. The program emphasised on 5R concept which are: right patient, right medicines, right dose, right route of administration and right administration. OBJECTIVE: To study the general knowledge of pharmacy staffs on medicines...

Medication safety is one of the integral practices for every healthcare provider. It is one of the major components in health care delivery system because it can cause potential harm to patients This qualitative study focuses on nurses’ and pharmacists’ experiences and perspectives on medication safety and hope that this study can contribute in saf...

Pharmacist has to train under supervision for 12 months at accredited institution recognized by Pharmacy Board Malaysia as a provisionally registered pharmacist (PRP).This qualitative study focuses on responses to open-ended survey questions on PRP perception towards their training and suggestion regarding the PRP training program. The findings ind...

Introduction: Complementary and alternative medicine widely used as self-care to treat illness or to promote own health especially in developed countries. In Malaysia, medical practised in diverse ethnicity, such as Chinese Traditional Medicine, Ayuverda, Qi Gong. Affirmed effectiveness towards complementary and alternative medicine shown associati...

Introduction: Misuse of cough and cold medications can cause serious complications. Empirical treatment usually used to children because lack of data on the safe dose. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the knowledge, opinion, and attitude of medical practitioners on CAC medicines, the recommendation they make about CAC treatment...

INTRODUCTION: Warfarin is efficacious when anticoagulation levels kept within the target range, anticoagulation levels above and below the target range associated with large increases in bleeding and thromboembolic risk. OBJECTIVE: To identify the relationship between patient demographic factor and compliance towards warfarin therapy. METHODS: Retr...

Objective: Reporting a case of therapeutic drug monitoring for intra-articular Vancomycin used for prosthetic joint infection, in a patient underwent total knee replacement (TKR). Case Summary: A 50-year-old native Iban woman underwent TKR in August 2010. She developed sudden increase in tenderness after walking in mid 2011 with loosening of tibial...

Objectives: This study conducted to evaluate the knowledge of diabetic patients in Hospital Miri. Hopefully, the findings of this study can used to clarify the correlation between patient’s demographic background and the diabetic awareness. Besides, the population knowledge gap and their attitude toward diabetes can detected to help in tailoring ef...

Abstract ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The consumption of Mitragyna speciosa (MS) for its psychoactive effects is widely reported amongst people in the villages in Thailand and Malaysia even though its use is illegal. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study examined the pattern of MS use, its reported effects and explored its potential to cause dependence....

The consumption of Mitragyna speciosa (MS) for its psychoactive effects is widely reported amongst people in the villages in Thailand and Malaysia even though its use is illegal. This study examined the pattern of MS use, its reported effects and explored its potential to cause dependence. We used both convenience and snowball-sampling methods to r...

Mitragyna speciosa (MS) belongs to Rubiaceae family and is a tree native to countries in South East Asia. The consumption of Mitragyna speciosa (MS) for its psychoactive effects is widely reported amongst people in the villages in Thailand and Malaysia even though its use is illegal. Yet, little is known about its properties and pattern of use. The...

INTRODUCTION: Medication adherence is one of the most compelling and puzzling behaviors displayed by patients and yet it is vital in achieving successful health outcomes. There are many factors that can affect adherence to a medication regimen which can be categorized as unintentional due to cognitive impairment, lack of understanding and knowledge...