Liew Shi Hui, Lim Jing Ying, Yahya Hanis Mastura, Rajikan Roslee
Nutritional Science Program, Faculty of Health Science, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Dietetics Program, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Intractable Rare Dis Res. 2022 Aug;11(3):125-132. doi: 10.5582/irdr.2022.01062.
Healthcare providers play an important role in improving the health of Inborn Error of Metabolism (IEM) patients. However, IEM knowledge level among local healthcare students has yet to be determined. Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the knowledge and perception of IEM among local healthcare students. An online self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 378 students across the Faculty of Health Science, Pharmacy and Dentistry from a selected public university in , Malaysia. For knowledge, a score of 1 is assigned to each correct answer with a maximum total score of 14. Likert scale was used to determine their perception of IEM. The total mean score of IEM knowledge among healthcare students is 5.8. There was no significant difference of mean score of IEM knowledge among the students from the Faculty of Health Science (6.1 ± 2.7), Pharmacy (5.5 ± 2.6) and Dentistry (5.8 ± 2.8). However, the score of knowledge is observed to be significantly different by ethnicity, religion and family history of IEM ( < 0.05). Furthermore, students with experience of meeting an IEM patient and attending IEM classes scored higher than those with no experience ( < 0.05). Most of the healthcare students (89.5%) perceived their knowledge to be insufficient and very poor. Majority of the students from faculty of pharmacy (70.8%) agreed that the IEM course should be mandatory compared to health sciences and dentistry ( < 0.05). This study identified an overall inadequacy of knowledge of IEM among healthcare students. There is a pressing need to improve the IEM-related knowledge and awareness of Malaysian healthcare students. This can be accomplished by incorporating online classes that emphasizes the treatment and management of IEMs in the university curriculum.
医疗保健提供者在改善先天性代谢缺陷（IEM）患者的健康状况方面发挥着重要作用。然而，当地医学生对IEM的知识水平尚未确定。因此，本研究的目的是评估当地医学生对IEM的知识和认知。向马来西亚一所选定公立大学健康科学、药学和牙医学系的378名学生发放了一份在线自填问卷。对于知识部分，每个正确答案得1分，最高总分14分。采用李克特量表来确定他们对IEM的认知。医学生中IEM知识的总平均分为5.8分。健康科学系（6.1±2.7）、药学系（5.5±2.6）和牙医学系（5.8±2.8）的学生在IEM知识平均得分上没有显著差异。然而，观察到IEM知识得分在种族、宗教和IEM家族史方面存在显著差异（P<0.05）。此外，有接触IEM患者经历和参加过IEM课程的学生得分高于没有这些经历的学生（P<0.05）。大多数医学生（89.5%）认为自己的知识不足且非常匮乏。与健康科学系和牙医学系相比，药学系的大多数学生（70.8%）同意IEM课程应该是必修课（P<0.05）。本研究发现医学生对IEM的知识总体不足。迫切需要提高马来西亚医学生与IEM相关的知识和意识。这可以通过在大学课程中纳入强调IEM治疗和管理的在线课程来实现。
