American journal of pharmaceutical education, May 1, 2024
Academic resilience, a critical determinant of academic achievement, is affected by various facto... more Academic resilience, a critical determinant of academic achievement, is affected by various factors. There is a paucity of large-scale international assessments of academic resilience among pharmacy students. Therefore, this study aimed to assess academic resilience among pharmacy students in 12 countries and to evaluate factors associated with their academic resilience levels. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey-based study was conducted among randomly selected pharmacy students in 12 countries: Egypt,
Background: While considerable evidence supports the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, a ... more Background: While considerable evidence supports the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, a sizable population expresses vaccine hesitancy. As per the World Health Organization, vaccine hesitancy is one of the top 10 hazards to global health. Vaccine hesitancy varies across countries, with India reporting the least vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy was higher toward COVID-19 booster doses than previous shots. Therefore, identifying factors determining COVID-19 vaccine booster hesitance (VBH) is the sine qua non of a successful vaccination campaign. Methodology: This systematic review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) 2020 standards. A total of 982 articles were pooled from Scopus, PubMed and Embase, while 42 articles that addressed the factors of COVID-19 VBH were finally included for further analysis. Result: We identified factors responsible for VBH and divided them into three major groups: sociodemographic, financial, and...
Background: Corticosteroids play a significant role in managing the vast majority of inflammatory... more Background: Corticosteroids play a significant role in managing the vast majority of inflammatory and immunologic conditions. To date, population-based studies on knowledge and attitudes concerning corticosteroids are scarce. This study aims to comprehensively assess knowledge, perception, experience and phobia toward corticosteroid use among the general population in the era of COVID-19. Methods: A cross-sectional self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect the data from 6 countries. Knowledge and corticophobia scores, descriptive statistics and logistic regression were computed. Results: A total of 2354 participants were enrolled in this study; the majority were females (61.6%) with an average age of 30. Around 61.9% had been infected previously with COVID-19, and about one-third of the participants had experience with corticosteroid use. The mean knowledge score was relatively satisfactory (8.7 ± 4.5 out of 14), and Corticophobia ranked a high score in all countries. Age...
Objective: Mortalities due to fentanyl derivatives are on the rise with novel fentanyl analogues ... more Objective: Mortalities due to fentanyl derivatives are on the rise with novel fentanyl analogues and still emerging on the global illicit drug market. They are highly potent and very fatal in low doses, yet there has been a lack of systematic research surrounding this subject. This review aims to assess the causes, nature, and toxicology of fatalities associated with fentanyl analogues. Methods: Five databases: Scopus, Embase, Medline, PubMed and Google Scholar were searched from inception to October 2020 to identify case studies and case series reporting fentanyl analogue-related fatalities. Two independent reviewers screened and selected the articles followed by the data extraction from each article, which included demography, route of administration, causes and nature of death, and the fentanyl analogue implicated. All articles were then subject to quality assessment tools developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). A narrative synthesis was undertaken. Results: The initial data search yielded 834 articles, only 14 of which met the inclusion criteria-this included nine case reports and five case series. Of the 1079 fentanyl-analogue related deaths reported, the majority of them occurred in the US (n=1044, 96.8%). The majority of fatalities were male (n=766, 71%), white (n=884, 87%) and in the age ranges 25-34 and 35-44 years (30.5% and 29.6%, respectively). The most common route of administration was intravenous (n=319, 66%) and the manner of death was almost exclusively accidental (99.7%). The predominant cause of death was fentanyl-analogue toxicity (n=292, 85.4%) and involved mixed drug toxicity (n=47, 13.7%). The mean post-mortem fentanyl analogue concentration was 31.6 ng/mL. Conclusion: Most fatalities were reported in the US involving young white males. Overdose through intravenous administration and by mixed drug toxicities with other opioids were the major causes of death. Deaths reported in peer-reviewed literature were relatively less than those reported by real-world data.
Background: Vaccination programs are crucial in global efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic. ... more Background: Vaccination programs are crucial in global efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Little has been reported regarding the attitudes and experiences of participants in the ongoing Malaysian vaccination program. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of side effects with the COVID-19 vaccines in Malaysia. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional survey conducted among vaccine-eligible and vaccinated individuals in Malaysia between May and July 2021. A self-administered 27-item questionnaire was developed and validated before distributing it through an online medium. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using SPSS version 22.Results: A total of 428 respondents completed the survey. More than half of the respondents (71.1%) were 18 to 45 years old, and 66.4% were females. A vast majority (98.6%) of the respondents had registered for the National COVID-19 Vaccination Program. A total of 20 participants (4.7%)...
Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions, 2021
Purpose: This study investigated pharmacy students’ perceptions of various aspects of virtual obj... more Purpose: This study investigated pharmacy students’ perceptions of various aspects of virtual objective structured clinical examinations (vOSCEs) conducted during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Malaysia.Methods: This cross-sectional study involved third- and fourth-year pharmacy students at the International Islamic University Malaysia. A validated self-administered questionnaire was distributed to students who had taken a vOSCE a week before.Results: Out of the 253 students who were approached, 231 (91.3%) completed the questionnaire. More than 75% of the participants agreed that the instructions and preparations were clear and helpful in familiarizing them with the vOSCE flow. It was found that 53.2% of the respondents were satisfied with the flow and conduct of the vOSCE. However, only approximately one-third of the respondents believed that the tasks provided in the vOSCE were more convenient, less stressful, and easier to perform than those in the conventional OSCE. F...
This case study reports on the simulation-based learning initiative to replace experiential learn... more This case study reports on the simulation-based learning initiative to replace experiential learning in an actual hospital pharmacy setting, namely Outpatient and Inpatient Pharmacy Services. The report describes the teaching and learning as well as the assessment components given to the students in a Malaysian setting.
Experiential learning provides opportunities for students to learn beyond the classroom setting. ... more Experiential learning provides opportunities for students to learn beyond the classroom setting. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students were unable to complete their attachment modules in community pharmacy settings, thus a four week community pharmacy course was conducted via remote learning. Students were required to have a maximum of two hours of virtual discussion and consultation sessions with a faculty member (with community pharmacy background/experience) twice a week. In each week, students were required to complete all tasks given based on the activities proposed in the community pharmacy logbook. MyDispense (an online pharmacy simulation) and Access Pharmacy (McGraw-Hill) were utilised by students to practice their dispensing skills and familiarisation with non-prescription medications, respectively. Case discussions on responding to minor ailments were also touched on during the online sessions. Students were assessed via logbook, preceptor assessment and an online object...
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a major global disease burden that affects millions of people ... more Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a major global disease burden that affects millions of people worldwide. The disease is well known to predispose patients to a wide range of macro- and microvascular complications. Cardiovascular complications are common macrovascular consequences among patients with T2DM. The primary goal of T2DM management is to achieve proper glycaemic control that helps to avoid or delay the incidence of disease complications. T2DM management involves the utilisation of oral antidiabetic medications and injectables, including insulin. Hence, we conducted this work to discuss and summarise the cardiovascular outcomes associated with the oral antidiabetic pharmacotherapy prescribed for patients with T2DM. The agents involved were metformin, sulfonylurea, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, thiazolidinediones, alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors. We decided to focus on the findings reported from observational studies publishe...
RationalePrevious research reported underutilization of statin therapy among patients with type 2... more RationalePrevious research reported underutilization of statin therapy among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Improving health care providers' awareness and understanding of the benefits and risks of statin treatment could be of assistance in optimizing the statin prescribing process.Aims and ObjectivesThis study aimed to assess health care providers' knowledge related to statin therapy and the impact of educational outreach intervention based on the perceived knowledge.MethodsThis was a cross‐sectional study based on educational outreach intervention targeting physicians and pharmacists in 1 major tertiary hospital in the state of Pahang, Malaysia. Participants responded to a 12‐item, validated questionnaire both prior to and after the outreach educational program. Two sessions were conducted separately for 2 cohorts of pharmacists and physicians. The knowledge scores prior to and after the educational intervention were calculated and compared using a paired‐samples ...
Objective: Clinical attachments undertaken by pharmacy students in Malaysia are one of the import... more Objective: Clinical attachments undertaken by pharmacy students in Malaysia are one of the important platforms in order to prepare future candidates for patient-centred pharmacy practice. The lack of data regarding the identification of Drug-related problems (DRPs) and the suggestion of relevant interventions by final year pharmacy students has directed the current research to describe pharmacy students' abilities in identifying DRPs in their final year clinical placements. Methods: As a descriptive cross-sectional study, it involved the analysis of the clinical case reports of final year pharmacy students during their six-week clinical attachments between February and April 2017 across three different tertiary hospitals in the state of Pahang, Malaysia. A six-member team, who had received the required training by the study's principal researcher, performed the data extraction from the clinical attachment reports. Results: A total of 385 clinical case reports, identified 880 DRPs. The two most common types of identified DRPs were the untreated condition (17.4 %), followed by inappropriate drug selection (16.3 %). Nearly 47.7 % of total detected DRPs were related to the indication and efficacy domains of therapy assessment. Additionally, there was a positive correlation found between the number of underlying diseases and the number of identified DRP, r s (372) = .14, p = .007. Conclusion: During the final year clinical attachments, the majority of the students were able to identify a considerable number of DRPs in the hospital setting under the supervision of their preceptors. The characterisation of the identified DRPs could be instrumental in refining the experiential clinical learning among future pharmacy practitioners.
Currents in pharmacy teaching & learning, Apr 1, 2018
The role of pharmacists in the patient care process is developing in the Malaysian healthcare set... more The role of pharmacists in the patient care process is developing in the Malaysian healthcare setting. Pharmacy students are required to be aware of cardiology pharmacy practice as this is one of the top national disease burdens in Malaysia. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and perceptions of pharmacy students toward the cardiology pharmacy specialty practice. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. The study instrument was a 31-item self-developed questionnaire. The target participants were third and fourth-year pharmacy students in one of the public Malaysian pharmacy schools. The overall response rate was 174/209 students (83.3%); 42 (24.1%) were male and 132 (75.9%) were female. The majority of students possessed a sound knowledge regarding cardiology pharmacy services and roles of the cardiology pharmacist. Nevertheless, important differences were noted between the participants in a few particular areas. These included prior familiarity with the term ...
American journal of pharmaceutical education, May 1, 2024
Academic resilience, a critical determinant of academic achievement, is affected by various facto... more Academic resilience, a critical determinant of academic achievement, is affected by various factors. There is a paucity of large-scale international assessments of academic resilience among pharmacy students. Therefore, this study aimed to assess academic resilience among pharmacy students in 12 countries and to evaluate factors associated with their academic resilience levels. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey-based study was conducted among randomly selected pharmacy students in 12 countries: Egypt,
Background: While considerable evidence supports the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, a ... more Background: While considerable evidence supports the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, a sizable population expresses vaccine hesitancy. As per the World Health Organization, vaccine hesitancy is one of the top 10 hazards to global health. Vaccine hesitancy varies across countries, with India reporting the least vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy was higher toward COVID-19 booster doses than previous shots. Therefore, identifying factors determining COVID-19 vaccine booster hesitance (VBH) is the sine qua non of a successful vaccination campaign. Methodology: This systematic review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) 2020 standards. A total of 982 articles were pooled from Scopus, PubMed and Embase, while 42 articles that addressed the factors of COVID-19 VBH were finally included for further analysis. Result: We identified factors responsible for VBH and divided them into three major groups: sociodemographic, financial, and...
Background: Corticosteroids play a significant role in managing the vast majority of inflammatory... more Background: Corticosteroids play a significant role in managing the vast majority of inflammatory and immunologic conditions. To date, population-based studies on knowledge and attitudes concerning corticosteroids are scarce. This study aims to comprehensively assess knowledge, perception, experience and phobia toward corticosteroid use among the general population in the era of COVID-19. Methods: A cross-sectional self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect the data from 6 countries. Knowledge and corticophobia scores, descriptive statistics and logistic regression were computed. Results: A total of 2354 participants were enrolled in this study; the majority were females (61.6%) with an average age of 30. Around 61.9% had been infected previously with COVID-19, and about one-third of the participants had experience with corticosteroid use. The mean knowledge score was relatively satisfactory (8.7 ± 4.5 out of 14), and Corticophobia ranked a high score in all countries. Age...
Objective: Mortalities due to fentanyl derivatives are on the rise with novel fentanyl analogues ... more Objective: Mortalities due to fentanyl derivatives are on the rise with novel fentanyl analogues and still emerging on the global illicit drug market. They are highly potent and very fatal in low doses, yet there has been a lack of systematic research surrounding this subject. This review aims to assess the causes, nature, and toxicology of fatalities associated with fentanyl analogues. Methods: Five databases: Scopus, Embase, Medline, PubMed and Google Scholar were searched from inception to October 2020 to identify case studies and case series reporting fentanyl analogue-related fatalities. Two independent reviewers screened and selected the articles followed by the data extraction from each article, which included demography, route of administration, causes and nature of death, and the fentanyl analogue implicated. All articles were then subject to quality assessment tools developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). A narrative synthesis was undertaken. Results: The initial data search yielded 834 articles, only 14 of which met the inclusion criteria-this included nine case reports and five case series. Of the 1079 fentanyl-analogue related deaths reported, the majority of them occurred in the US (n=1044, 96.8%). The majority of fatalities were male (n=766, 71%), white (n=884, 87%) and in the age ranges 25-34 and 35-44 years (30.5% and 29.6%, respectively). The most common route of administration was intravenous (n=319, 66%) and the manner of death was almost exclusively accidental (99.7%). The predominant cause of death was fentanyl-analogue toxicity (n=292, 85.4%) and involved mixed drug toxicity (n=47, 13.7%). The mean post-mortem fentanyl analogue concentration was 31.6 ng/mL. Conclusion: Most fatalities were reported in the US involving young white males. Overdose through intravenous administration and by mixed drug toxicities with other opioids were the major causes of death. Deaths reported in peer-reviewed literature were relatively less than those reported by real-world data.
Background: Vaccination programs are crucial in global efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic. ... more Background: Vaccination programs are crucial in global efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Little has been reported regarding the attitudes and experiences of participants in the ongoing Malaysian vaccination program. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of side effects with the COVID-19 vaccines in Malaysia. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional survey conducted among vaccine-eligible and vaccinated individuals in Malaysia between May and July 2021. A self-administered 27-item questionnaire was developed and validated before distributing it through an online medium. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using SPSS version 22.Results: A total of 428 respondents completed the survey. More than half of the respondents (71.1%) were 18 to 45 years old, and 66.4% were females. A vast majority (98.6%) of the respondents had registered for the National COVID-19 Vaccination Program. A total of 20 participants (4.7%)...
Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions, 2021
Purpose: This study investigated pharmacy students’ perceptions of various aspects of virtual obj... more Purpose: This study investigated pharmacy students’ perceptions of various aspects of virtual objective structured clinical examinations (vOSCEs) conducted during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Malaysia.Methods: This cross-sectional study involved third- and fourth-year pharmacy students at the International Islamic University Malaysia. A validated self-administered questionnaire was distributed to students who had taken a vOSCE a week before.Results: Out of the 253 students who were approached, 231 (91.3%) completed the questionnaire. More than 75% of the participants agreed that the instructions and preparations were clear and helpful in familiarizing them with the vOSCE flow. It was found that 53.2% of the respondents were satisfied with the flow and conduct of the vOSCE. However, only approximately one-third of the respondents believed that the tasks provided in the vOSCE were more convenient, less stressful, and easier to perform than those in the conventional OSCE. F...
This case study reports on the simulation-based learning initiative to replace experiential learn... more This case study reports on the simulation-based learning initiative to replace experiential learning in an actual hospital pharmacy setting, namely Outpatient and Inpatient Pharmacy Services. The report describes the teaching and learning as well as the assessment components given to the students in a Malaysian setting.
Experiential learning provides opportunities for students to learn beyond the classroom setting. ... more Experiential learning provides opportunities for students to learn beyond the classroom setting. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students were unable to complete their attachment modules in community pharmacy settings, thus a four week community pharmacy course was conducted via remote learning. Students were required to have a maximum of two hours of virtual discussion and consultation sessions with a faculty member (with community pharmacy background/experience) twice a week. In each week, students were required to complete all tasks given based on the activities proposed in the community pharmacy logbook. MyDispense (an online pharmacy simulation) and Access Pharmacy (McGraw-Hill) were utilised by students to practice their dispensing skills and familiarisation with non-prescription medications, respectively. Case discussions on responding to minor ailments were also touched on during the online sessions. Students were assessed via logbook, preceptor assessment and an online object...
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a major global disease burden that affects millions of people ... more Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a major global disease burden that affects millions of people worldwide. The disease is well known to predispose patients to a wide range of macro- and microvascular complications. Cardiovascular complications are common macrovascular consequences among patients with T2DM. The primary goal of T2DM management is to achieve proper glycaemic control that helps to avoid or delay the incidence of disease complications. T2DM management involves the utilisation of oral antidiabetic medications and injectables, including insulin. Hence, we conducted this work to discuss and summarise the cardiovascular outcomes associated with the oral antidiabetic pharmacotherapy prescribed for patients with T2DM. The agents involved were metformin, sulfonylurea, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, thiazolidinediones, alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors. We decided to focus on the findings reported from observational studies publishe...
RationalePrevious research reported underutilization of statin therapy among patients with type 2... more RationalePrevious research reported underutilization of statin therapy among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Improving health care providers' awareness and understanding of the benefits and risks of statin treatment could be of assistance in optimizing the statin prescribing process.Aims and ObjectivesThis study aimed to assess health care providers' knowledge related to statin therapy and the impact of educational outreach intervention based on the perceived knowledge.MethodsThis was a cross‐sectional study based on educational outreach intervention targeting physicians and pharmacists in 1 major tertiary hospital in the state of Pahang, Malaysia. Participants responded to a 12‐item, validated questionnaire both prior to and after the outreach educational program. Two sessions were conducted separately for 2 cohorts of pharmacists and physicians. The knowledge scores prior to and after the educational intervention were calculated and compared using a paired‐samples ...
Objective: Clinical attachments undertaken by pharmacy students in Malaysia are one of the import... more Objective: Clinical attachments undertaken by pharmacy students in Malaysia are one of the important platforms in order to prepare future candidates for patient-centred pharmacy practice. The lack of data regarding the identification of Drug-related problems (DRPs) and the suggestion of relevant interventions by final year pharmacy students has directed the current research to describe pharmacy students' abilities in identifying DRPs in their final year clinical placements. Methods: As a descriptive cross-sectional study, it involved the analysis of the clinical case reports of final year pharmacy students during their six-week clinical attachments between February and April 2017 across three different tertiary hospitals in the state of Pahang, Malaysia. A six-member team, who had received the required training by the study's principal researcher, performed the data extraction from the clinical attachment reports. Results: A total of 385 clinical case reports, identified 880 DRPs. The two most common types of identified DRPs were the untreated condition (17.4 %), followed by inappropriate drug selection (16.3 %). Nearly 47.7 % of total detected DRPs were related to the indication and efficacy domains of therapy assessment. Additionally, there was a positive correlation found between the number of underlying diseases and the number of identified DRP, r s (372) = .14, p = .007. Conclusion: During the final year clinical attachments, the majority of the students were able to identify a considerable number of DRPs in the hospital setting under the supervision of their preceptors. The characterisation of the identified DRPs could be instrumental in refining the experiential clinical learning among future pharmacy practitioners.
Currents in pharmacy teaching & learning, Apr 1, 2018
The role of pharmacists in the patient care process is developing in the Malaysian healthcare set... more The role of pharmacists in the patient care process is developing in the Malaysian healthcare setting. Pharmacy students are required to be aware of cardiology pharmacy practice as this is one of the top national disease burdens in Malaysia. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and perceptions of pharmacy students toward the cardiology pharmacy specialty practice. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. The study instrument was a 31-item self-developed questionnaire. The target participants were third and fourth-year pharmacy students in one of the public Malaysian pharmacy schools. The overall response rate was 174/209 students (83.3%); 42 (24.1%) were male and 132 (75.9%) were female. The majority of students possessed a sound knowledge regarding cardiology pharmacy services and roles of the cardiology pharmacist. Nevertheless, important differences were noted between the participants in a few particular areas. These included prior familiarity with the term ...
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Papers by Mohamed Elnaem