Aims:To determine the prevalence of adverse drug event (ADE)-related admissions and the related drugs. Setting and Designs: This study was conducted prospectively in two medical wards in Malaysia. Subjects and Methods: Information was collected from patients' medical and medication charts over a period of 24 weeks. All screened patients were assessed using a list of criteria and were classified into: Therapeutic failure (TF), adverse drug reaction (ADR), medication error (ME), and drug overdose (DO). Patients admitted due to ADEs and its subcategories were analyzed and presented in counts and percentages. The prevalence of ADE-related admissions and the drug associated with each category were identified and calculated. Results: Out of 1,200 screened patients, 39% (n = 443) were ADE-related admissions. A total of 483 ADEs were identified; 79% (n = 351) were due to TF, 21% (n = 94) were due to ADR, 5% (n = 21) were due to DO, and 3% (n = 15) were due to ME. Cardiovascular drugs, antidiabetics, and antiasthmatics were most commonly associated with these admissions. The most common complaint by patients admitted due to a TF was chest pain, whilst hypoglycemia was the main cause of admission related to ADRs. Conclusions: The prevalence of admissions related to ADEs is high in Malaysia and this was mainly contributed by admissions related to TF. Some useful strategies such as educational interventions on the main causes of ADEs, monitoring of patients prescribed with drugs most commonly associated with ADEs, and appropriate prescribing should be targeted at all healthcare professionals to prevent future occurrences. However, further investigation is needed to clarify the high proportion of patients admitted due to TF.

There are a growing number of people diagnosed with diabetes. But, with the growing number of people diagnosed with diabetes, Malaysia is not spared of this phenomenon, as prevalence stands at 14.9% of adult population. Adequate blood glucose control is vital in diabetes management to prevent complications. Even so there is a lack of diabetic control among people with diabetes in Malaysia and we need to understand why this is. This study set out to explore the perspectives and experiences of Malay patients in managing Type 2 diabetes as a chronic illness and provide recommendations that aim to enhance adherence to treatment and help patients to improve their self-management skills. In-depth interviews were carried out on a purposeful sample of patients and their health care professional (HCPs). Interviews were recorded, transcribed and audiotapes were analysed using NVivo software to identify emerging themes and code according to categories. Interviews were conducted in an Endocrinology clinic in Malaysia with 18 Malay patients (15-75 years, 9 males and 9 females) and 13 HCPs. Results indicated that themes that emerged from interviews with the patients included problems with integrating the treatment regimen and difficulty developing coping skills to achieve the desired blood glucose level. Most patients lacked understanding of diabetes and management of diabetes, nature of diabetes, awareness of having diabetes, diabetic education, knowledge of diabetes, duration of illness, patients' understanding of diabetes, physical effects of treatment, severity of symptoms and disease. Patients believed that they needed to integrate many treatment requirements such as diet, medications, blood glucose monitoring and exercise into their daily routine. However, barriers to achieving good control of diabetes were found to be the constraints in their ability to control diabetes. Education and knowledge related to diabetes that influenced understanding of the disease were also reasons for non-adherence to treatment regimen. Their beliefs and ability to minimise these barriers shaped their attitudes towards disease management. Patients were willing to discuss their problems about self-managing diabetes if some of these barriers were addressed during consultations. It can be concluded that more positive approaches are needed in self-management of diabetes and health care professionals involved in the management of diabetes need to understand their patients' beliefs about their diabetes and constraints faced by their patients to promote more awareness and to foster greater control of diabetes and improve health outcomes.

Pharmacists played an important role in integrating the provision of care for tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus by providing individualised pharmaceutical care management. There still remains a need to address logistic barriers that impinged on the ability to conduct the pharmaceutical care service to its full potential.

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