Each nursing student comes to nursing with a lay image of nursing portrayed by nurses they have seen. This lay perception of nursing that a nursing student holds is transformed to a more professional understanding that is acquired in nursing schools. This process is known as professional socialization. It is a process of learning the norms, attitudes, behaviours, skills, roles, and values of the profession. It involves the internalization of the values and norms of the profession in the individual’s own behaviour and self-concept. The ultimate goal of professional socialization is to internalize a professional identity of the profession. Professional socialization sets in to reduce the tension from the scenario of reality shock and facilitate adaptation during the transition process. This paper serves as a concept paper with the main purpose of introducing and explaining the concept of professional socialization in nursing to help the readers in gaining further understanding of the concept, especially within the local context. The first author has also incorporated her own personal reflections with regards to her socialization process to nursing.

INTRODUCTIONThe purpose of this study was to explore whether diabetes mellitus (DM) correlates with the risk of kidney cancer in Taiwan.

MATERIALS AND METHODSWe designed a population-based case-control study from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database, which consisted of 116 patients with newly diagnosed kidney cancer as cases and 464 subjects without kidney cancer as controls in 2000 to 2009. Both cases and controls were aged ≥20 years. Baseline comorbidities were compared between kidney cancer cases and controls.

RESULTSMultivariable analysis showed no association was detected between DM and kidney cancer (OR 1.06, 95% CI, 0.58 to 1.94). Hypertension (OR 2.05, 95% CI, 1.23 to 3.42), chronic kidney diseases (OR 2.57, 95% CI, 1.23 to 5.37), cystic kidney diseases (OR 18.6, 95% CI, 1.84 to 187.6) and kidney stones (OR 4.02, 95% CI, 2.43 to 6.66) were significant comorbidities associated with increased risk of kidney cancer. Use of alpha-glucosidase inhibitor was associated with increased risk of kidney cancer (OR 4.31, 95% CI, 1.07 to 17.3).

CONCLUSIONDM does not correlate with the risk of kidney cancer. Hypertension, chronic kidney diseases, cystic kidney diseases, kidney stones and use of alpha-glucosidase inhibitors are associated with kidney cancer.

Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; etiology ; Case-Control Studies ; Diabetes Complications ; Female ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Kidney Neoplasms ; etiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Risk Factors

Introduction: Travel medicine is an emerging branch of medicine concerned with the well-beings of travellers before, during, and after travel. Pre-travel health advice and medical services are important to keep travellers healthy and ensure a safe and pleasant journey by minimising impact of illness and accidents. Objective: This paper serves as a literature review paper on the pre-travel health advice seeking behaviours amongst travellers as well as the pre-travel health advice and medical services provided by the health professionals. Methodology: An extensive online literature search using the search terms of “pre-travel”, “health advice”, “medical services”, and “health professionals” was done on electronic bibliographic databases including PubMed and Scopus supplemented by Google Scholar. Results: Twenty original studies as retrieved from the online databases which fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included in the review. Prevalence of pre-travel advice seeking behaviour is reportedly low in Malaysia (36.8% – 40.5%). Studies done amongst pharmacists in Malaysia revealed that the Malaysian pharmacists have been actively involved in providing pre-travel health advice and medical services (76.6% – 85%). High percentages of healthcare professionals in Europe and American (68% – 94.7%) provide pre-travel advice and medical services, followed by 79.5% in Saudi and 44.7% in Qatar. The top 5 topics of health advice most frequently cited were on malaria, travel insurance, sexually transmitted disease/HIV, vaccinations and first aid kit. The average duration spent for pre-travel consultation range from 5 to 30 minutes. Conclusion Travellers should be educated on the importance of seeking pre-travel advice and vaccinations to raise their awareness. Healthcare practitioners should be well-trained and informed to provide good pre-travel advice and services.

Bibliometrics ; Publications ; Research

With the allocation in funding for research, there has been growing interest in studying evidence-based policy formulation and decision-making to account for the funding allocation. By employing a narrative review, this paper focuses on the successes, failures, and challenges in the adoption of the MPOWER strategies in implementing the Tobacco Control Policy in Malaysia. The main objective of this paper is to narrate on the translations of research evidence in the design and implementation of the Tobacco Control Policy in Malaysia. Comparisons are made with developed and developing countries. Literature on tobacco control acts and policies were retrieved from online databases using keywords such as “smoking, tobacco, cigarette, and policy control”. Malaysia has adopted both local and global research evidence in implementing the Tobacco Control Policy and has seen steady progress in reduced prevalence of smoking through the years. Nevertheless, some challenges, including shortage of manpower for the enforcement and innovation of tobacco products, prevail, and more efforts are warranted.
Translations

Introduction: There is an increasing number of publications on health literacy from Malaysia. We conducted a systematic review of Malaysian studies to determine the prevalence of limited general health literacy and the associated factors among Malaysian adults. Materials and Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search for Malaysian studies on health literacy using PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar. Cross-sectional studies that measured general health literacy using specific rating scales among adults in Malaysia were retrieved for qualitative analysis. Quantitative synthesis of the prevalence of limited health literacy measured using two rating scales (Newest Vital Sign, NVS and various versions of European Health Literacy Survey, HLS) was performed using random effect model. Results: Twenty-five studies measuring general health literacy were retrieved for qualitative analysis; the majority were various versions of HLS and NVS. Pooled prevalence rates of limited health literacy were: HLS: 48.59%; NVS: 91.41%. Subgroup analysis of participant type revealed prevalence of limited health literacy measured using NVS was lower in clinical samples vs non-clinical samples (85.67% vs 94.70%). Moderator analysis revealed a small effect of ethnicity on prevalence of health literacy measured using HLS. Assessment of included studies showed very few of them had statistically significant associations between socio-demographic factors and limited health literacy. Conclusion Prevalence of limited health literacy in Malaysian adults was very high: almost one in two adults in HLS studies and nine out of ten adults in NVS studies. Socio-demographic factors associated with limited health literacy were inconsistent with other studies.
Adult ; Health Literacy ; Malaysia ; Prevalence ; Systematic Review [Publication Type]