Che Noriah Othman

Development of a One Stop Distance Virtual Learning (DVL) Program for Diploma of Pharmacy Students During Hospital Attachment

Blended Learning is the process of incorporating many different ways in which people learn (learning style). As far as pharmacy students are concerned, part of the university-based curriculum, students are required to attach for two semesters in various government hospitals in Malaysia where they are going to be evaluated on their pharmacy practices performance and research projects. Communications are essential for students, hospital preceptors and lecturers during all process. Various medium are utilized including I-Learn, however all medium are not entirely equipped with all essential communication needed. This research aims to develop a one stop Distance Virtual Learning (DVL) program for a fifth and final year Diploma of Pharmacy Students, UiTM Pulau Pinang, Bertam campus who attached at various hospitals in Malaysia. This program was developed using Moodle Platform which is an open source learning platform designed to provide educators, administrators and learners with a single robust, secure and integrated system to create personalized learning environments. By using Moodle version 2.8 on an out site server, the modules provided our program with Discussion Forum, Quizzes, Embedded Multimedia, Database, Book, Live Chat and Video Conference. Once registered to the Moodle web portal, students can participate in each of the modules and connected with lecturers where they can address their personal ways of their learning needs. Lecturers’ roles are moderating discussions and activities in a way that collectively leads students towards the learning goals of the subject. DVL module, have enhanced the teaching and learning effectiveness of students and lectures.

Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices (KAP) of Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM) Amongst Diploma Pharmacy Students in Malaysia

Results and discussions: There were 186 students participated in this study (70.4%) among those 131 (%) were CAM users. The most common types of CAM used were Traditional Malay Medicines (83.96%). Majority of them (98%) used CAM based on recommendation by family members, and 60.3% of them believed on the effectiveness of CAM. However there was a small percentage (4.6%) stated that CAM is harmful to health. All CAM and non CAM users agreed that CAM is associated with health, health beliefs and values. Nearly 87% of the participants agreed that having knowledge on CAM can improve medical care. Lack of scientific evidence was among the barriers to CAM use.