Giving meaning to quality of healthcare in Malaysia.

Ensuring quality in healthcare calls for a coordinated, systematic, congruous, and sustained approach. Nevertheless, it demands defining what the quality of healthcare means in the local context. Presently, the Malaysian healthcare system utilizes various definitions of quality of healthcare across the different initiatives and levels of healthcare, which can lead to fragmented or ineffective quality improvement.

Development of the National Policy for Quality in Healthcare for Malaysia.

Background: Quality in healthcare is a fundamental pillar of health systems performance, leading to improved health outcomes and reduced waste. The World Health Organization recommends that countries establish a national quality policy and strategy (NQPS) to steer the provision of safe and high-performing healthcare services and foster a quality culture. This paper describes the development process and key content of Malaysia's new 5-year National Policy for Quality in Healthcare.

The COVID-19 pandemic and disruptions to maternal and child health services in public primary care Malaysia: a retrospective time-series analysis.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges to healthcare systems worldwide. Maintaining essential health services, including maternal and child health (MCH), while addressing the pandemic is an enormous task. This study aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the utilisation of MCH services in Malaysian public primary care.

Factors Affecting the Use of Private Outpatient Services among the Adult Population in Malaysia.

The proportion of Malaysians of all ages who use private outpatient services has dropped over time, highlighting the overstretched condition of public outpatient facilities compared to their private counterparts. This paper aims to determine the prevalence of outpatient care, characteristics of outpatient care users by sector, and the factors affecting the utilisation of private outpatient services among the adult population of Malaysia using Andersen's behavioural model. Data from the National Health Morbidity Survey 2019 (NHMS 2019), a nationwide survey, were analysed.

Determinants of community pharmacy utilisation among the adult population in Malaysia: findings from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019.

Background: Community pharmacies provide alternatives for medication procurement and other basic and minor health-related services in addition to mainstream hospitals and primary healthcare services. This study aimed to determine the characteristics of community pharmacy users and associated factors for community pharmacy utilisation in Malaysia.

Methods: Secondary data analysis was performed using data from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019, a nationwide cross-sectional household survey that used a two-stage stratified random sampling design.