Prompt investigation of food poisoning outbreak are essential, as it usually involves a short incubation period. Utilizing the advancement in mobile technology, a mobile application named MyMAFI (My Mobile Apps for Field Investigation) was developed with the aim to be an alternative and better tool for current practices of field investigation of food poisoning outbreak. A randomized cross-over trial with two arms and two treatment periods was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the newly developed mobile application as compared to the standard paper-based format approach. Thirty-six public health inspectors from all districts in Kelantan participated in this study and they were randomized into two equal sized groups. Group A started the trial as control group using the paper-format investigation form via simulated outbreaks and group B used the mobile application. After a one-month 'washout period', the group was crossed over. The primary outcome measured was the time taken to complete the outbreak investigation. The treatment effects, the period effects and the period-by-treatment interaction were analyzed using Pkcross command in Stata software. There was a significant treatment effect with mean square 21840.5 and its corresponding F statistic 4.47 (p-value = 0.038), which indicated that the mobile application had significantly improve the reporting timeliness. The results also showed that there was a significant period effect (p-value = 0.025); however, the treatment by period interaction was not significant (p-value = 0.830). The newly developed mobile application-MyMAFI-can improve the timeliness in reporting for investigation of food poisoning outbreak.
Future healthcare providers are facing the threat of needle stick injuries (NSIs) with the consequent risk of acquiring blood borne diseases. A cross sectional study was conducted from May 2017 to September 2017 among 327 students including medical, nursing and paramedic students from Faculty of Medicine UKM. This study aimed to determine the level of knowledge and awareness among students during their clinical years. A validated questionnaire was delivered via convenience sampling. Data was analyzed using SPSS 23 software and one sample t-test was used to compare with the standard setting value. The mean age of respondents was 23.32±2.37. The knowledge and awareness were significantly higher in both paramedic (knowledge (10.71 ± 1.64, p<0.001), awareness (5.50 ± 0.86, p<0.001), and nursing (knowledge (9.94 ± 1.38, p<0.001), awareness (5.35 ± 1.07, p<0.001) students as compared to standard setting, respectively. Meanwhile for medical students there was no significant difference in knowledge (9.95 ± 1.39, p=0.589) but significant difference in awareness (5.87 ± 1.03, p<0.001) compared to standard setting. The prevalence of NSIs was 8.3% with majority having at least one incident (85.2%) and main exposure is during medical posting (77.8%) during procedure needle recapping (70.4%) using hollow needle (63%). Incident of NSIs were mostly not reported (74.1%). Despite a significant good result on knowledge and awareness, the incidence of NSIs is alarming. Therefore, preventive steps need to be taken by the university to avoid the occurrence.
Keyword: Knowledge, Awareness, Students, Needle Stick Injury (NSI), Cross-sectional study
Study site: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)