Malaysian Nurses Research Articles

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Leaving intention and exit destinations among the Malaysian private hospital nurses

Leaving intention and exit destinations among the Malaysian private hospital nurses

Impact of U.K. and Australian Transnational Higher Education in Malaysia

This study investigated outcomes of the provision, by one Australian and two U.K. universities, of bridging programs that allow registered Malaysian nurses to upgrade their diploma qualifications to degree level. The study was informed by current literature on Transnational Higher Education (TNHE) programs. Not sufficiently explored in the literature are nurses’ lived experiences of such programs and how far they apply TNHE theory in clinical practice. Using hermeneutic phenomenology, interviews were conducted with 18 Malaysian nurses who completed these TNHE programs. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings were that personal and professional development did occur but it cannot be attributed entirely to the quality of the TNHE provision, which all nurses found to be problematic. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors mediated how far nurses applied the taught theory in their clinical practice. Longitudinal research is needed to identify the long-term impacts of TNHE programs on clinical practice.

Access to, interest in and attitude toward e-learning for continuous education among Malaysian nurses

Continuous nursing education (CNE) courses delivered through e-learning is believed to be an effective mode of learning for nurses. Implementation of e-learning modules requires pre-assessment of infrastructure and learners' characteristics. Understanding the learners' needs and their perspectives would facilitate effective e-learning delivery by addressing the underlying issues and providing necessary support to learners. The aim of this study was to examine access to computer and Internet facilities, interest in and preferences regarding e-learning, and attitudes toward e-learning among nurses in Peninsular Malaysia. The study utilized a cross-sectional descriptive survey. Government hospitals and community clinics in four main regions of Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 300 registered nurses. Data were collected using questionnaires, which consisted of demographic and background items and questions on access to computer and Internet facilities, interest and preferences in e-learning, and attitudes toward e-learning. Descriptive analysis and a chi-squared test were used to identify associations between variables. Most Malaysian nurses had access to a personal or home computer (85.3%, n=256) and computer access at work (85.3%, n=256). The majority had Internet access at home (84%, n=252) and at work (71.8%, n=215); however, average hours of weekly computer use were low. Most nurses (83%, n=249) did not have an e-learning experience but were interested in e-learning activities. Most nurses displayed positive attitudes toward e-learning. Average weekly computer use and interest in e-learning were positively associated with attitudes toward e-learning. Study findings suggest that organizational support is needed to promote accessibility of information and communications technology (ICT) facilities for Malaysian nurses to motivate their involvement in e-learning.

Vital Bridge Transforming Postgraduate Nurse Education And Employability To Employment

Today’s universities are constantly looking for a competitive edge in delivering a postgraduate nurse curriculum with a positive outcome of future employability and employment. In this respect, Monash University Malaysia is no different since market differentiation is important for the survival of Private Institutions of Higher Learning in Malaysia. Currently, some Malaysian public and private universities do offer specific postgraduate courses in advanced clinical skills nurse practice which have been accredited by Malaysia Qualifications Agency and recognized by both Ministry of Higher Education as well as Ministry of Health. In addition to that, the Nurses Board Malaysia, also consider the postgraduate courses that are currently offered to be too generic with very little application of theory to practice in the clinical healthcare settings. In view of the gap that exists in the present postgraduate courses, this paper would critically examine the preliminary market information gathered on the requirements of higher educational needs of nurses in Malaysia. The future development of an appropriate higher education course, “the vital bridge”, is in the planning stage. It is expected to be both vigor and relevant to today’s Malaysian nurses’ employability and employment.

Job satisfaction of Malaysian registered nurses: a qualitative study.

Job satisfaction is an important factor in health care settings. Strong empirical evidence supports a causal relationship between job satisfaction, patient safety and quality of care. However, there have not been any studies exploring the job satisfaction of Malaysian nurses. The main purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the factors related to feelings of job satisfaction as well as job dissatisfaction experienced by registered nurses in Malaysia. A convenient sample of 46 Malaysian nurses recruited from a large hospital (number of beds = 895) participated in the study. A total of seven focus group discussions were conducted with nurses from surgical, medical and critical care wards. A semi-structured interview guide was used to facilitate the interviews, which were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and checked. The transcripts were used as data and were analysed using a thematic approach. The study identified three main themes that influenced job satisfaction: (1) nurses' personal values and beliefs; (2) work environment factors and (3) motivation factors. Concerning the nurses' personal values and beliefs, the ability to help people made the nurses felt honoured and happy, which indirectly contributed to job satisfaction. For work environment factors, team cohesion, benefit and reward, working conditions play an important role in the nurses' job satisfaction. Motivation factors, namely, professional development and clinical autonomy contributed to job satisfaction. It is important for nurse leaders to provide more rewards, comfortable work environments and to understand issues that affect nurses' job satisfaction. Our findings highlight the importance of factors that can improve nurses' job satisfaction. The study provides basic information for hospital administrators in planning effective and efficient policies to improve nursing job satisfaction in order to increase the quality of patient care and decrease nursing turnover.

Current Continuing Professional Education Practice among Malaysian Nurses

Nurses need to participate in CPE to update their knowledge and increase their competencies. This research was carried out to explore their current practice and the future general needs for CPE. This cross-sectional descriptive study involved registered nurses from government hospitals and health clinics from Peninsular Malaysia. Multistage cluster sampling was used to recruit 1000 nurses from four states of Malaysia. Self-explanatory questionnaires were used to collect the data, which were analyzed using SPSS version 16. Seven hundred and ninety-two nurses participated in this survey. Only 80% (562) of the nurses had engaged in CPE activities during the past 12 months. All attendance for the various activities was below 50%. Workshops were the most popular CPE activity (345, 43.6%) and tertiary education was the most unpopular activity (10, 1.3%). The respondents did perceive the importance of future CPE activities for career development. Mandatory continuing professional education (MCPE) is a key measure to ensure that nurses upgrade their knowledge and skills; however, it is recommended that policy makers and nurse leaders in the continuing professional development unit of health service facilities plan CPE activities to meet registered nurses' (RNs) needs and not simply organizational requirements.

Belongingness in the workplace: a study of Malaysian nurses' experiences

The need to belong has been proposed as the most basic need for human psychological well-being. Lack of belongingness has been associated with stress, anxiety and lack of esteem. Social and psychological functioning in the workplace has been linked to nurses' interconnection with others and their perceptions of belongingness. To explore factors contributing to Malaysian nurses' sense of belonging in the workplace. A descriptive questionnaire survey of registered nurses (n = 437) working in two Malaysian hospitals was conducted in 2011. Previously validated questionnaires translated into the Malay language were used. Data were analysed using SPSS 19.0. Nurses enhanced their sense of belonging through acceptance, 'fitting in', respect and group harmony. There were no specific demographic factors contributing to the nurses' perceptions. The findings suggest that these priorities for belongingness were contextually influenced by factors such as elements of Malaysian culture, the nature of nurses' teamwork and stereotypical values on the nursing profession. Data were collected in only two hospitals. Experiences of nurses in other hospitals and areas of Malaysia may not be similar. The influence of Malaysian culture in this study raises issues about utilization of a measurement scale developed in Western cultures, which may not directly accord with cultural values of an Eastern ethnicity. Aspects of belongingness in Malaysian nurses reflect those of nurses elsewhere. However, there are specific cultural influences at play. Therefore, development of a measurement scale based on Eastern culture would help in increasing understanding of workplace practices among these groups. Workplaces that perpetuate an environment that is not conducive to generating a sense of belonging may have an untoward impact on care delivery. Healthcare policies need to ensure patient care has a focus on engaging practitioners within multidisciplinary teams.

The relationship between job satisfaction and intention to leave current employment among registered nurses in a teaching hospital

To assess Malaysian nurses' perceived job satisfaction and to determine whether any association exists between job satisfaction and intention to leave current employment. There is currently a shortage of qualified nurses, and healthcare organisations often face challenges in retaining trained nurses. Job satisfaction has been identified as a factor that influences nurse turnover. However, this has not been widely explored in Malaysia. Cross-sectional survey. Registered nurses in a teaching hospital in Malaysia completed a self-administered questionnaire. Of the 150 questionnaires distributed, 141 were returned (response rate = 94%). Overall, nurses had a moderate level of job satisfaction, with higher satisfaction for motivational factors. Significant effects were observed between job satisfaction and demographic variables. About 40% of the nurses intended to leave their current employment. Furthermore, age, work experience and nursing education had significant associations with intention to leave. Logistic regression analysis revealed that job satisfaction was a significant and independent predictor of nurses' intention to leave after controlling for demographic variables. The results suggest that there is a significant association between job satisfaction and nurses' intention to leave their current employment. It adds to the existing literature on the relationship between nurses' job satisfaction and intention to leave. Methods for enhancing nurses' job satisfaction are vital to promote the long-term retention of nurses within organisations. Attention must be paid to the needs of younger nurses, as they represent the majority of the nursing workforce and often have lower satisfaction and greater intention to leave than older nurses do. Strategies to nurture younger nurses, such as providing opportunities for further education, greater management decision-making capabilities and flexible working environment, are essential.

An Examination of the Acceptability of OET to the Potential Nurses From College of Nursing, Kuantan, Malaysia

The growth of culturally and linguistically diverse population in Malaysia has led to many efforts to encourage or ensure that health care systems respond to the distinct needs of culturally and linguistically different patients by becoming “culturally competent”. So the implementation of OET will play an increasingly expedient role both in medication and in medical tourism. Occupational English Test is an English language proficiency test for health practitioners intending to check whether health practitioners have sufficient knowledge of English in job-related context. It is designed by Professor Tim Mc Namara under contact with Australian Federal Government and is used by Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. This study using a case study method intends to know the acceptability of OET in Malaysia. The objectives of this study are to assess Malaysian nurses’ performance in the existing OET writing test and to know their attitude towards the test. The cases are 31 nursing students from a reputed nursing college in Kuantan, Malaysia. The researcher administers some sample OET writing test questions on the cases at first so that they can have a clear idea about OET and after the test , she interviews 5 cases individually to know their view in detail. The researcher analyzes the result manually. From the test and especially from the interviews, it comes out that OET is very much acceptable to the nurses and though most them are not good in grammar, their performance in test is satisfactory on average because the task is associated with their job.

An Examination of the Acceptability of OET to the Potential Nurses From College of Nursing, Kuantan, Malaysia

The growth of culturally and linguistically diverse population in Malaysia has led to many efforts to encourage or ensure that health care systems respond to the distinct needs of culturally and linguistically different patients by becoming “culturally competent”. So the implementation of OET will play an increasingly expedient role both in medication and in medical tourism. Occupational English Test is an English language proficiency test for health practitioners intending to check whether health practitioners have sufficient knowledge of English in job-related context. It is designed by Professor Tim Mc Namara under contact with Australian Federal Government and is used by Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. This study using a case study method intends to know the acceptability of OET in Malaysia. The objectives of this study are to assess Malaysian nurses’ performance in the existing OET writing test and to know their attitude towards the test. The cases are 31 nursing students from a reputed nursing college in Kuantan, Malaysia. The researcher administers some sample OET writing test questions on the cases at first so that they can have a clear idea about OET and after the test , she interviews 5 cases individually to know their view in detail. The researcher analyzes the result manually. From the test and especially from the interviews, it comes out that OET is very much acceptable to the nurses and though most them are not good in grammar, their performance in test is satisfactory on average because the task is associated with their job. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA

Malaysian nurses’ skin care practices of preterm infants: Experience vs. knowledge

This study sought to explore the impact of Malaysian nurses' perceptions, knowledge and experiences in preterm infant skin care practices using a descriptive approach. Questionnaires were distributed to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurses in one teaching hospital in Malaysia. A knowledge gap was revealed among nurses in both theoretical and practical knowledge of preterm infant skin. Nurses working for more than 5 years in NICU or having a Neonatal Nursing Certificate (NNC) were not predictors of having adequate knowledge of preterm infants' skin care. The results highlight the complex issue of providing effective skin care to preterm infants. However, a specific finding related to nurses' confidence provides some direction for future practice and research initiatives. Clear clinical evidence-based guidelines and Continuing Nursing Education on relevant topics of preterm infants' care may provide the required knowledge for the nurses.

KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION ON END-OF-LIFE- CARE, DEATH AND DYING AMONG PALLIATIVE NURSES

BackgroundEvery individual deserved to have good death. Good death is ‘peaceful and dignified’ without unnecessary suffering of dying. Nursing perspective of ‘a good death’ is centred in the ability to...

Factors Determining Nurses Hospital Information System Usage

This study employs the combined technology acceptance model (TAM) and theory of planned behavior (TPB) (i.e., C-TAM-TPB) that extended with self-efficacy and knowledge of information technology to examine HIS acceptance by Malaysian nurses. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in three public hospitals in Malaysia to gather data from practicing nurses with experience of using HIS. Structural equation modeling using the partial least squares (PLS) method was utilized to evaluate measurements and structural models. The results stress that a nurses intention was significantly influenced by three factors, including his or her attitude, the subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. The results also indicate that the model can explain over half of the variance in the intention to use HIS.

An investigation of the English proficiency of potential nurses from University College Shahputra and Kolej Kejururawatan by Occupational English Writing Test: A case study

Health practitioners have to demonstrate that their English language proficiency meets certain standards. Being an important part of the healthcare team, nurses who work in multi-lingual context need to have necessary command in English to perform their duties effectively. Though Malaysia is a country full of diverse people, there is no specific English language test for Malaysian nurses now. This research aims to experiment a special test, the Occupational English Writing Test (OET) which is specifically designed for health practitioners, on the nurses of two nursing colleges in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. Specifically the objectives of this research are to assess Malaysian nurses' performance in the OET and to evaluate its suitability and acceptability in Malaysian context. This study is a case study. The nurses chosen as samples for this research cover 53 nursing students from Kolej Kejururawatan, Kuantan and University College Shahputra, Kuantan. The researcher administers a questionnaire which comprises of three sample OET writing tests. She also interviews some samples individually. The result of this study shows that nurses' English proficiency is not satisfactory. The interviews obviously signify that nurses' lack of communication is a barrier to patient safety. Therefore the nurses need to demonstrate a good communication skill in working context. Thus their language proficiency needs to be tested and OET is suitable for this purpose because OET exemplifies the real difficulty of language performance of health practitioners in work-related context. From the research, it is also crystal clear that OET is very much acceptable for Malaysian nurses.

Job Satisfaction of Malaysian Nurses: A Causal Model

Turnover intention is a challenging issue for most of the developed and developing countries. Past studies revealed that there were two common approaches to enhance nurses’ retention. The first approach is focus on recruitment and selection activities as well as establishes more schools and colleges of nursing that will produce more nursing graduate. The second approach is to attract and retain more dedicated and quality professional nursing staff. Substantial studies have confirmed that job satisfaction as a major predictor of turnover intention. Therefore, this paper is mainly focus on identifying significant predictors of job satisfaction which will subsequently reduce turnover intention among staff nurses in Malaysia healthcare industry.

Social support and work engagement: a study of Malaysian nurses

This study addressed the question of whether social support (supervisor support and co-worker support) could contribute to the variance in work engagement. Nurses, as customer-contact employees, play an important role in representing the organization's competence. Their attitudes and behaviour toward patients has a significant influence on patients' satisfaction and perception of quality of service. The sample comprised 402 staff nurses working in three general hospitals in Peninsular Malaysia. Variables included demographic information, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and Social Support Scale. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, correlations and regression analysis. Findings indicated that supervisor support was positively related to work engagement. Co-worker support was found to have no effect on work engagement. Supervisory support is an important predictor of work engagement for nurses. Nursing management should provide more training to nurse supervisors and develop nurse mentoring programmes to encourage more support to nurses.

Factors Predicting Organizational Commitment among Nurses in State Hospitals, Malaysia

Introduction: With an increase in national nursing shortage, organizational commitment is extremely important for retention of nurses. This predictive study determines the level of organizational commitment and the predictive ability of perceived organizational support, components of job satisfaction, including pay, task requirement, organizational policies, autonomy, interaction and professional status as well as years of experience on organizational commitment. Method: Data were collected from 416 nurses in four state hospitals in Malaysia, using self-administered questionnaires. The hospitals were selected from each region in Peninsular Malaysia and samples were selected by a random sampling method. Questionnaires, including demographic data, Organizational Commitment Questionnaires, Survey of Perceived Organizational Support, and Index Work Satisfaction were distributed by researcher and research assistants. Stepwise multiple regression technique was used to analyze the data. Results: The results discovered that (1) nearly half of the subjects (48.07%) reported high level of organizational commitment. (2) Professional status, autonomy, interaction, task requirement and years of experience could predict the organizational commitment (ß = 0.52, 0.17, p < 0.01); ß= 0.13, 0.11, 0.09, p < 0.05 respectively). Overall, all predictors explained 33% of variability in the organizational commitment among nurses in state hospitals. Conclusions: This study found that nurses in state hospitals were highly committed to their organizations. Results of this study provide information for nurse administrators to consider and maintain these factors in nursing practice to foster a high level of organizational commitment among Malaysian nurses.

Malaysian nurses visit Adelaide

PACEsetterS: July 2011 - Volume 8 - Issue 3 - p 46 doi: 10.1097/01.JBI.0000405547.85966.cb

What Influences Malaysian Nurses to Participate in Continuing Professional Education Activities?

A cross sectional descriptive study, which involved government hospitals and health clinics from Peninsular Malaysia sought to identify the continuing professional education (CPE) needs and their readiness for E-learning. This paper focuses on the first phase of that study that aimed to determine the factors that influence nurses' participation in CPE. Multistage cluster sampling was used to recruit 1,000 nurses randomly from 12 hospitals and 24 health clinics from four states in Peninsular Malaysia who agreed to be involved. The respondent rate was 792 (79.2%), of which 562 (80%) had participated in CPE in the last 12 months. Findings suggested that updating knowledge and providing quality care are the most important factors that motivate participation in CPE, with respective means of 4.34 and 4.39. All the mean scores for educational opportunity were less than 3.0. Chi-square tests were used to test the association of demographic data and CPE participation. All demographical data were significantly associated with CPE participation, except marital status. Implementation of mandatory CPE is considered an important measure to increase nurse's participation in CPE. However, effective planning that takes into consideration the learning needs of nurses is recommended.