The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) cases was on an increasing trend, including in Malaysia. The Malaysian Ministry of Health had implemented a range of measures, such as the use of masks and social distancing, to reduce the risk of transmission. Traditionally, newborns are evaluated for neonatal jaundice using visual assessment, a capillary heel prick and serum bilirubin (SB) sampling in primary health‐care clinics. This approach requires the physical presence of both parents and their newborns in the primary health‐care clinics, causing crowding and increasing the risk of COVID‐19 infections. To alleviate crowding, we implemented the transcutaneous bilirubin drive‐through (DT) service, which is an established, non‐invasive, painless and rapid method to determine the bilirubin levels. Throughout the screening, both parents and baby will be confined to their car. A total of 1842 babies were screened in our DT setting from April to July 2020. Of the total babies, 298 (16.1%) required venesection for SB measurement and 85 required admission for phototherapy. None with severe jaundice were missed since the implementation of this service. The average test duration per neonate was less than 5 min, while conventional venous bilirubin laboratory testing required an average of 1.5 h per neonate. The cost of the SB laboratory test and consumables was approximately USD 5 per test, with an estimated cost savings of USD 7720. DT screening may be introduced in health‐care settings to reduce crowding and eliminate the need of painful blood sampling in newborns.
Allergic rhinitis has been identified as a major respiratory disease that places a significant burden on patients and the healthcare system. Nevertheless, the management of allergic rhinitis is challenging for both patients and practitioners. Pharmacists have been recognised as strategic in providing advice for allergic avoidance, disease information, and pharmacological care for allergic rhinitis management. This role has been underutilised in the public health service sector in Malaysia due to variation in practice, regulation, and health system structures when compared to the international guidelines. This article proposed a PhaRmacISt-led Education Model (AR-PRISE) that includes explicit patient education materials and an algorithm for structured counselling by pharmacists in the management of patients with allergic rhinitis.
Background: Social stigma against persons infected with COVID-19 is not uncommon. This qualitative study aimed to explore the experience of social stigma among COVID-19 positive patients and their family members. This cross-sectional study was conducted between April to June 2020 in Malaysia. Patients recovered from COVID-19 for at least one month and their family members who were tested with negative results, Malaysian and aged 18-65 years old were purposively sampled. Cold call method was employed to recruit patients while their family members were recruited by their recommendations. Telephone interviews were conducted with the participants after obtaining their verbal consent.Results: Three themes emerged from the interviews: (Ι) experience of stigmatization, (ΙΙ) perspective on disease disclosure, and (ΙΙΙ) suggestion of coping and reducing stigma. The participants expressed their experiences of being isolated, labelled, stereotyped and blamed by the people surrounding them including the health care providers, neighbours, and staff at the service counters. Some respondents expressed their willingness to share their experience with others as a mean to stop the chain of virus transmission and while some of them chose to disclose the encountered history for official purpose because of fear and lack of understanding among the public. As suggested by the respondents, the approaches in addressing social stigma required the involvement of the government, the public, health care provider, and religious leader. Conclusion: Individuals recovered from COVID-19 and their families underwent experience of social stigma. Fear and lack of public understanding of the COVID-19 disease were the key factors for non-disclosure. Some expressed their willingness to share the experience and perceived it as method to increase public awareness and thereby reducing stigma. Multifaceted approaches with the involvement of multiple parties including the government, non-governmental organization as well as the general public were recommended as important measures to address the issues of social stigma.
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