1.Pharmacotherapeutics in the Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients
Wan Rahiza Wan Mat ; Cheah Saw Kian ; Aliza Mohamad Yusof ; Lau Chee Lan ; Michelle Tan Hwee Peng ; Petrick Periyasamy
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2022;18(No.1):316-323
Pharmacotherapeutics are being repurposed and used as off-label at various stages of COVID-19 infection. Clinical
trials are being initiated or are ongoing to investigate the effectiveness and safety of these pharmacotherapeutics. This
review article outlines the current pharmacotherapeutics and the controversies surrounding their use. The pharmacotherapeutics that were discussed are hydroxychloroquine, favipiravir, lopinavir/ritonavir, remdesivir, interferons,
tocilizumab, and steroids. We also discussed the special consideration for pharmacotherapeutics in COVID-19
infection. No pharmacotherapeutics have been found to be effective and approved for the treatment of COVID-19
infection. However, there are clinical trials that have eliminated the possibilities of use of some pharmacotherapeutics while others had shown promising preliminary results of its use
2.Validation of Malay Language Translated Questionnaire on Adult Intensive Care Unit Nurses’ Perception and Involvement in End-of-life Care
Lee Jia Hang ; Wan Rahiza Wan Mat ; Ismail Tan Mohd Ali Tan ; Low Hsueh Jing ; Jaafar Md Zain ; Siti Nidzwani Mohamad Mahdi
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2022;18(No.5):13-22
Introduction: The study’s objective was to validate a Malay language translated questionnaire on end-of-life care
to be used among nurses practicing in critical care areas. Methods: The English language questionnaire underwent
forward and backward translations by four experts. The translated Malay language questionnaire was pilot tested on
30 subjects and revised accordingly. The validation of the revised questionnaire was carried out on 250 nurses. The
reliability of the translated questionnaire was checked. Cronbach alpha value of at least 0.70 suggests adequate internal consistency. The validity of the questionnaire was explored using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and model
fit tests were run to achieve fit test specific cut off values. The CFAs were run repeatedly with iterative item reductions
until acceptable goodness of fit for the model was achieved. Results: All domains of the translated questionnaire
showed reasonable to excellent reliability (Cronbach Alpha 0.687 to 0.922). Multiple CFAs were run and 13 out of
46 items were excluded, and the final model fit improved substantially with the indices were within the acceptable
threshold of good or reasonably fit, cut off values are in brackets [Chi-Square statistics 1.635 (≤ 2.0), Root Mean
Square Error of Approximation 0.050 (< 0.05), Standardised Root Mean Square Residual 0.059 (≤ 0.08), Comparative
Fit Index 0.911 (0.90-0.94), Tucker Lewis Index 0.900 (0.90-0.94), Akaike Information Criteria 13024, Bayesian Information Criteria 13334]. Conclusion: The psychometric properties of the final model indicated the Malay language
translated questionnaire is reliable and valid to investigate nurses’ perspective and involvement in end-of-life care.