BACKGROUND

Burn injuries remain a significant global public health problem, causing substantial morbidity, mortality, and economic burden, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where nearly 90% of cases occur. Despite the importance of timely and appropriate first aid in reducing complications, community responses to burn injuries in many settings continue to rely on traditional or non-evidence-based practices.

OBJECTIVES

This qualitative phenomenological study explored community-based knowledge and responses related to the causes and first aid of burn injuries.

METHODS

The study involved ten (10) purposively selected informants residing in South Mangga Dua Urban Village, Central Jakarta, Indonesia. Data collection methods included semi-structured interviews, direct observations, and focus group discussions (FGDs). Thematic analysis was used.

RESULTS

Three (3) core domains were identified: (1) community perceptions of burn causes and classifications, (2) indigenous first aid practices used in domestic settings, and (3) sources of knowledge and information pathways related to burn first aid. Participants commonly attributed burns to incidents involving fire, hot liquids, and electrical faults. Their understanding of burn severity was limited to superficial assessments, with little awareness of clinical classifications. First aid responses were largely based on traditional practices such as the application of toothpaste, honey, or aloe vera, while evidencebased practices like using running water were rarely mentioned. Notably, most participants relied on familial teachings and informal community experiences as their primary sources of knowledge, with limited exposure to health professionals or verified media content.

CONCLUSION

Community knowledge is culturally rooted but misaligned with medical standards, potentially leading to unsafe practices. Culturally sensitive health education integrating traditional beliefs and accurate information is essential to improve outcomes in burn injury management.

Wounds And Injuries ; Residence Characteristics ; Public Health ; Mortality ; Insemination, Artificial, Heterologous ; Income ; Financial Stress ; Burns ; Health Education ; Attitude ; First Aid ; Medicine ; Health Communication ; Urban Population

Genuine infrapopliteal aneurysms are quite rare, in contrast to pseudoaneurysms. The aetiology of pseudoaneurysms related to external fixation is attributed to various theories, including direct vascular damage due to misplaced pins or wires, overshooting or misguidance during osteotomy, distraction at the corticotomy site during an Ilizarov procedure, and continuous abrasion of the vessel caused by a wire inserted in close proximity to an artery. Arteriography proves valuable in documenting lesions and assessing deeper pseudoaneurysms, particularly when contemplating reconstruction; it plays a crucial role in guiding management decisions. For significant tears and symptomatic aneurysms, resection and reconstruction are the gold standard treatment.

The evolution of anatomy education yields a variety of instructional strategies to enhance students’ comprehension of gross anatomy. Apart from these multi-modality approaches, various studies suggest that anatomy instruction is more effective when it is taught with radiological integration during the early phase of the medical curriculum. Studies have shown that the introduction of basic radiological knowledge in anatomy learning enhances visuospatial skills, which are important for safe clinical practice. Nevertheless, considerable variation in the radiological anatomy teaching exists in terms of delivery methods, radiological materials, and teaching time. One way to address these limitations is by using integrated radiology anatomy e-learning platforms. Recent advancements in technology have given rise to immense attention to e-learning platforms, which have been considered to be an effective modality in optimising the student learning process. Hence, this article explores the potential use of e-learning tools, namely integrated with radiological imaging, in teaching gross anatomy.

Introduction:: Current studies have established that there are numerous facilitators and challenges of exclusive breastfeeding. There are limited studies that explore working mothers‟ experiences on what empowers them to continue and sustain exclusive breastfeeding. Methods:: A qualitative exploratory study was conducted by means of in-depth semi-structured focus group with 16 working mothers purposively selected from all four public universities in Brunei Darussalam. Data was analysed thematically. Results:: Three themes emerged that influenced mothers‟ empowerment to initiate and sustain exclusive breastfeeding: 1) self-determination; 2) psychosocial support system; and 3) the real world. Mothers‟ determination to embrace breastfeeding is socio-culturally and religiously shaped, which is further strengthened by motherly instinct that primarily empowered mothers to exclusive breastfeeding. Psychosocial support system comprising husband, family, friends, support groups and social media are positively viewed as vital enhancer of mothers‟ empowerment. Mismatch of mothers‟ expectations and the actual experiences, non-breastfeeding friendly work environment and unsupportive co-workers hindered them from feeling fully empowered to exclusively breastfeeding. Conclusion: Holistic strategies should be implemented to continuously enhance and empower working mothers to achieve at least a minimum of six months exclusive breastfeeding once they return to work. This includes provision of dedicated private breastfeeding room and allocated time for pumping of breast milk. Working mothers also required support for their transition from breastfeeding the babies on their breast during the allocated extended maternity leave to different methods of giving expressed breast milk to their babies when they return to work.

Introduction: Diabetic foot infection is often associated with high morbidity, disability and poor quality of life. This study focuses on the demography, the number of repetitive surgery and length of stay in hospital of patients with diabetic foot infection. Method: This is a retrospective observational study. Patients who were admitted to the Orthopaedic ward of Hospital Segamat (HS), Johor, Malaysia from January 2016 to December 2018 and required surgical intervention were included in the study. Data was collected from the computer system of HS and medical notes of patients. Results: 35.6% of the total orthopaedic emergency surgeries performed were for patients with diabetic foot infection, 25% of the surgical procedures performed were major amputations of lower limb and 40% of the patients with diabetic foot infection required more than one surgical operation. Discussion: The demographics of the patients is consistent with the demographics of Malaysia where majority of them are Malays followed by Chinese, Indians and others. Despite being only 10% of total admission to the department, this group of patients contributed to 35.6% of the total emergency surgeries performed. The amputation rate in the centre is comparable to the other local studies. The average length of stay in hospital was found to be shorter compared to overseas due to different rehabilitation protocols.

The Malaysia Diagnosis Related Group (MY-DRG®), established since 2002, is a patient classification system that stratifies disease severity and categories patients into iso-resource groups. Casemix can be used to estimate costs per episode of care and as a provider payment tool in health services. Casemix has also been used to enhance quality and improve the efficiency of health services. Hence, estimation cost per DRG is important especially in developing countries where costing data are still scarce. We embarked on a study to determine the costs of the diagnostics laboratory services for each MY-DRG® based on the severity of illnesses. Most costing studies for diagnostic laboratory services usually focus on the cost of consumables and equipment alone and employed the step-down costing method. Very few studies applied Activity-Based Costing (ABC) method to estimate the costs for diagnostic laboratory services. This study was done with the purpose of developing the diagnostics laboratory cost using the ABC method. All medical cases discharged from UKM Medical Centre (UKMMC) in 2011 grouped into MY-DRG® were included in this study. In 2011, a total of 2.7 million diagnostic laboratory investigations were carried out in the Department of Diagnostic Laboratory Services in UKMMC. ABC was conducted from January to December 2013 in all units of the department. Cost of 242 types of diagnostic laboratory services were collected using a costing format. Out of 25,754 cases, 16,173 (62.8%) cases were from the medical discipline. After trimming using L3H3 method, 15,387 cases were included in the study. Most of the cases were on severity level one (44.6%), followed by severity level two (32.3%) and severity level three (23.1%). The highest diagnostic laboratory service weight was for Lymphoma & Chronic Leukemia, severity level III (C-4-11-III) with the value of 5.9609. Information on seven cost components was collected form each procedure: human resources, consumables, equipment, reagents, administration, maintenance and utilities. The results revealed that, the biggest cost component for human resources was in Molecular Genetic Unit (89.6%), consumables (34.8%) from Tissue Culture Unit, equipment (11.2%) and reagents (68.1%) from Specialized Haemostasis Unit. In conclusion, the accurate and reliable cost of the diagnostic laboratory services can be determined using ABC. Top management of the department should be able to use the output of the study to take appropriate steps to reduce unnecessary wastages of resources in the various units of the services.