Background: The need for client feedback in assessing healthcare services is widely recognized. However, little is known about the satisfaction of adolescent clients utilizing healthcare services in Malaysia. To the best of our knowledge, there is no validated instrument to measure the satisfaction of adolescent clients attending health clinics in Malaysia. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the reliability of the Malay version of the Malaysian Ministry of Health’s Adolescent Client Satisfaction Questionnaire among adolescents attending health clinics in northeastern Malaysia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in January 2019 among adolescents aged 10–19 years attending four designated health clinics in the northeastern state of Peninsular Malaysia. The test for Cronbach’s α was performed to determine the internal consistency reliability. Results: There were a total of 85 adolescent clients involved in this study. The mean age of respondents was 15.6 years. The majority of respondents were female, Malay, students, and had attained a secondary level of education. The mean total satisfaction score was 78.35. The internal consistency reliability according to the Cronbach’s α of the domain was 0.854, which is considered highly reliable. The corrected item-total correlation for the domain was acceptable as it was ≥0.4. Conclusion The Malay version of the Malaysian Ministry of Health’s Adolescent Client Satisfaction Questionnaire has excellent internal consistency reliability. Therefore, it may be recommended as a tool to measure the satisfaction level among adolescents attending health clinics in Malaysia.

Evidence-based recommendations on intrapartum care are important to ensure the safety of mothers and neonates. The objective of this study was to compare two established guidelines for intrapartum care to provide clinicians with more comprehensive recommendations on intrapartum management. We carried out a descriptive analysis of guidelines from the Integrated Management of Pregnancy and Childbirth (IMPAC) guidelines published by the World Health Organization, and the Perinatal Care Manual published by the Ministry of Health Malaysia, on intrapartum care to determine differences, if any, with regards to management. Latent, active and the second phase of labour are defined differently in both guidelines. Both guidelines showed high similarity in the steps of clinical management for all phases of labour but differed in foetal monitoring methods, indications for episiotomy, mood and behavior assessment, universal precautions, pain management, and placental disposal. Both guidelines had similar managements for most of the problems encountered during the intrapartum period except for preterm labour and multiple births which have substantial differences. Malaysian guidelines highlight additional systems such as the red alert system, and referral and retrieval system, which would enhance the quality of intrapartum management. The IMPAC guidelines emphasize supportive care, birth companionship, maternal care and monitoring up to one hour after placental delivery; and home birth management; these are inadequately explained or lacking in Malaysian guidelines. From the comparison, it was seen that substantial variation exists in intrapartum management between both guidelines that indicates the need for better evidences to synthesize a more comprehensive set of guidelines for the improvement in intrapartum care.
Guideline [Publication Type] ; World Health Organization ; Malaysia

Background: Mortality among tuberculosis patients while on treatment is a public health concern in Malaysia. Exploring the risk factors for tuberculosis mortality is important to evaluate the effectiveness of national tuberculosis control programs and to identify vulnerable patients. This study aimed to estimate the 5-year proportion of mortality among tuberculosis patients on treatment and determine its associated factors in Malaysian setting. Methods: A case-control study was conducted between deceased and survived groups in Terengganu state of Malaysia. All notified cases that fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria from 1st January 2016 until 31st December 2020 were included in the study. Descriptive statistics, simple and multiple logistic regressions were employed for data analysis. Results: There were 3,603 tuberculosis cases notified and 12.4% of total notified patients had died during their course of treatment. Multiple logistic regression revealed older age, working group, prison inmate, positive HIV status, far advanced lesion on chest radiographs and disseminated form of tuberculosis were the significant factors associated with mortality among tuberculosis patients with an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.06 (95%CI: 1.04, 1.07; p<0.001); 0.48 (95%CI: 0.33, 0.68; p<0.001); 0.26 (95%CI: 0.09, 0.79; p=0.017); 12.18 (95%CI: 7.15, 20.75; p<0.001); 3.56 (95%CI: 1.46, 8.64; p=0.005); and 6.95 (95%CI: 2.02, 23.97; p=0.002), respectively. Conclusion About 1 in 10 patients had died during the treatment of tuberculosis in Terengganu attributed to the pinpointed socio-demographic and clinical factors. The identified risk factors were useful in improving the current screening programme and clinical management to avert mortality among vulnerable patients.
Tuberculosis

Background: The spread of COVID-19 was inevitable and has not spared small and isolated communities, including the community of Perhentian Island in Besut District, Terengganu. Managing clusters in small islands can be difficult, given the limited resources. This study explores the characteristics of COVID-19 cases and the experience of outbreak containment at Perhentian Island. Methodology: A retrospective study involving record review of COVID-19 cases and at-risk individuals registered under Perhentian Cluster were retrieved from the Besut District Health Office COVID-19 online registry from the 16thAugust2021 until 6thOctober 2021. All notified cases and close contacts who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were extracted and analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 1,093 community members of Perhentian Island were screened of which 170 (15.5%) tested positive for COVID-19, while 923 (84.5%) tested negative. Among individuals who tested positive, the majority were adults (52.4%), male (51.8%), Malays (98.8%), and villagers (96.5%). Clinical characteristics were categorized into: asymptomatic (55.9%), had no known medical comorbidities (90.6%), low-risk groups (87.1%), vaccinated (57.6%), and admitted to PKRC (97.1%) for treatment. Multiple agencies were involved in the outbreak containment of the Perhentian Cluster, working collectively and in good coordination. Conclusion The outbreak was attributed to community gatherings and close interactions among villagers. Prompt actions, targeted planning, and inter-agency collaboration were the key factors in successful containment of further spread of COVID-19 in Perhentian Island.
COVID-19