Perspectives on opportunities and challenges in a predominantly flipped classroom-based pharmacy curriculum: A qualitative study.

Introduction: To adapt to flipped classroom pedagogy in universities, factors such as the amount of the program that is flipped, students' pre-existing educational experiences, and cultural background may influence adjusting to the approach. We investigated students' perspectives across four years of a predominantly flipped classroom-based pharmacy curriculum in a low to middle income country.

Methods: We conducted five semi-structured focus groups with 18 pharmacy students from years one to four of the bachelor of pharmacy program at Monash University Malaysia where students came from different pre-university backgrounds.

Cultural adaptation and validation of instruments for measuring the flipped classroom experience.

Introduction: In 2017, a revamped bachelor of pharmacy program was introduced at Monash University and incorporated a predominantly flipped classroom-based pedagogy. The attitudes and preferences of students towards this program had yet to be assessed using a reliable instrument. Since no instrument was readily available, the objective of this study was to identify, contextualize, and validate a suitable instrument.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Pharmacy Education in Malaysia and Indonesia.

The pandemic has affected all walks of life and businesses, including education at all levels. Movement controls have forced the schools and universities to migrate the teaching and learning to be fully online. Some universities in large cities in Malyasia had already implemented blended learning and thus, were better prepared to adjust to the current situation.

Medication Therapy and Ramadan Fasting.

Every year millions of Muslims observe fasting during the month of Ramadan. Abstaining from drink and food for a long period may affect the physiology of the body, pathology of diseases, and pharmacokinetics/ pharmacodynamics of medicines. Health professionals should assess the suitability of patients to observe fasting without compromising their health.

Student preparedness characteristics important for clinical learning: perspectives of supervisors from medicine, pharmacy and nursing.

Background: Student perspectives of clinical preparedness have been studied in the literature, but the viewpoint of supervisors is limited. Hence, the aim was to examine the perspective of supervisors on the characteristics of health professional students important for preparedness for clinical learning.

Methods: This was a descriptive, questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study conducted at three higher education institutions in Malaysia.

Chronic care model in primary care: can it improve health-related quality of life?

Purpose: Chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia are public health concerns. However, little is known about how these affect patient-level health measures. The aim of the study was to examine the impact of a chronic care model (CCM) on the participant's health-related quality of life (QoL).

Pharmaceutical care issues identified by pharmacists in patients with diabetes, hypertension or hyperlipidaemia in primary care settings.

Background: The roles of pharmacists have evolved from product oriented, dispensing of medications to more patient-focused services such as the provision of pharmaceutical care. Such pharmacy service is also becoming more widely practised in Malaysia but is not well documented. Therefore, this study is warranted to fill this information gap by identifying the types of pharmaceutical care issues (PCIs) encountered by primary care patients with diabetes mellitus, hypertension or hyperlipidaemia in Malaysia.

Influences on Malaysian pharmacy students' career preferences.

Objectives: To identify and evaluate factors affecting the career preferences of fourth-year bachelor of pharmacy (BPharm) students in Malaysia in the presence of a 4-year period of mandatory government service.

Methods: A validated self-administered questionnaire was used in this cross-sectional study to collect data from final-year BPharm students enrolled at 3 government-funded universities and 1 private university in Malaysia. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis.

A preliminary study on the effect of pharmacist counseling on awareness of and willingness to quit smoking in Malaysian population.

Objectives: This paper presents an outcome of pharmacist counseling among Malaysian smokers for their awareness of and willingness to quit smoking.

Method: It was a cross-sectional study during a 3-day public health campaign at a shopping complex. Each self-referred participant was asked to complete a questionnaire apart from the question regarding improvement, and if any in their awareness and willingness to quit smoking, were asked to respond after counseling.