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The quality of asthma care may be affected if asthma management is overlooked, thus needing frequent clinical audits to identify areas for improvement. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of the process (e.g. documentation of asthma-specific information), the structure (e.g. availability of resources) and the outcome (e.g. proportion of patients prescribed with asthma medications) at a university-based primary care clinic. The associated clinical factors for non-documentation of asthma control at the last visit were also examined.

This retrospective study involved auditing medical records and the pharmacy data system of 433 adult patients with asthma to evaluate 18 quality indicators. The standard target for the indicators of process and structure was 80 percent and the standard target for the indicators of outcome was 100 percent.

All the indicators failed to reach the standard targets. Documentation of asthma-specific information and availability of resources were deficient. The non-documentation of asthma control was significantly associated with presence of acute complaint(s) unrelated to asthma, presence of other issues and number of the documented parameters for asthma control. Although the prescription rates of inhaled reliever and preventer were substandard, they were reasonably high compared to the targets.

In this study, evaluation of the quality of care was limited by absence of asthma register, use of paper-based medical records and restricted practice capacity. Besides, the asthma-specific assessments and management were only audited at one particular time. Furthermore, the findings of this study could not be generalised to other settings that used other methods of record keeping such as patient-held cards and electronic medical records. Future studies should sample asthma patients from a register, evaluate more reliable quality indicators (e.g. over-prescription of short-acting β-2 agonist and underuse of inhaled corticosteroid) and assess asthma management over a duration of time.

This study provides quality information on all aspects of asthma care (process, structure and outcome) which can be a basis for clinical improvement. It is hoped that the study could assist the stakeholders to plan strategies for improvement of the asthma care. A more strategic and reliable system of documentation is needed, such as the use of a simple template or structured form, which should not jeopardise the provision of personalised and comprehensive care. With complete documentation, thorough investigational audits can be continuously performed to determine the quality of asthma care.

This study could provide useful findings to guide healthcare providers in developing a more strategic model of asthma care that can ensure asthma patients to receive a personalised, comprehensive, holistic and continuous care. Through this approach, their physical and psychosocial well-being can be optimised.

Even though our healthcare has advanced, the quality of asthma care is still suboptimal which requires further improvement. However, it could be considered assuring due to high outcome levels of asthma care despite having limited resources and practice capacity.

The purpose of this study is to explore measures taken by local authorities in curbing poor compliance among renovated terrace houses in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.

A qualitative methodology was selected in the data collection and analysis of the study. Seven local authority officers from seven selected local authorities were invited to participate in a face-to-face interview session to share their experience. A focus group was conducted for the purpose of confirming the validity of the data collected during the interview session. The focus group consisted of 32 officers in charge of building control enforcement invited from 11 local authorities within Selangor State.

The results show that collecting revenue rather than ensuring compliance is the main objective among the authorities responsible for enforcing the regulations. There are four common tools adopted to penalize the offenders, which are compounds, demolition, prosecution and court orders, with a mix of opinions on their objective achievement. Major obstacles identified in the implementation of the enforcement task are low staffing capacity in monitoring and inspection, difficulties in preparing investigation paper and problems carrying out the demolition of illegal extensions.

The study uncovers obstacles to enforcing regulations on home renovations. The findings contribute toward improving the enforcement practices of local building control authorities.

The purpose of this study is to assess the psychometric properties of the Flourishing Scale (FS) by employing samples of Malaysian and Indonesian undergraduates. In addition, the present study seeks to identify aspects of the social-psychological functioning that were perceived differently by both samples.

The present study employs the descriptive design to provide descriptions about psychometric properties of the FS. In total, 351 first-year undergraduates were employed as samples of the study. The authors employed the Rasch measurement model framework using the quantitative approach to analyze the data.

Generally, the results showed that the FS demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties for both samples. However, the Malaysian and Indonesian samples differ significantly in half of the social-psychological functioning aspects.

One limitation of the study was the relatively small sample size students in one higher education institution in each country. In addition, in both countries, the undergraduates demonstrated obligatory roles toward their lecturers. Therefore, their response might not be truthful and only respond as requested.

Whilst social psychological functioning has been identified as important aspects of well-being, the construct has yet to be studied in the eastern culture in Malaysia and Indonesia.