Medication non-adherence leads to a vast range of negative outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease. An automated web-based system managing short message service (SMS) reminders is a telemedicine approach to optimise adherence among patients who frequently forget to take their medications or miss the timing. This paper sought to investigate the effect of automated SMS-based reminders on medication adherence in patients after hospital discharge following acute coronary syndrome (ACS). An interventional study was conducted at a tertiary teaching hospital in Malaysia. A total of 62 patients with ACS were equally randomised to receive either automated SMS reminders before every intake of cardiac medications or only usual care within eight weeks after discharge. The primary outcome was adherence to cardiac medications. Secondary outcomes were the heart functional status, and ACS-related hospital readmission and death rates. There was a higher medication adherence level in the intervention group rather than the usual care group, (χ² (2)=18.614, p<0.001). The risk of being low adherent among the control group was 4.09 times greater than the intervention group (relative risk =4.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.82–9.18). A meaningful difference was found in heart functional status between the two study groups with better results among patients who received SMS reminders, (χ² (1) = 16.957, p<0.001). An automated SMS-based reminder system can potentially enhance medication adherence in ACS patients during the early post-discharge period.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused extraordinary disruptions to education systems globally, forcing a rapid switch from conventional to online education. Although some qualitative studies have been carried out exploring the online education experiences of nursing students and faculty members during the COVID-19 pandemic, to our knowledge, no study has used the Photovoice approach. To explore the experiences of nursing students and faculty members as related to online education during the COVID-19 pandemic. A descriptive qualitative design using Photovoice was adopted. The study took place across five countries and one city in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong). Fifty-two nursing students and twenty-eight nursing faculty members who participated in online education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each participant submitted one photo substantiated with written reflections. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Ethical approval was obtained from institution-specific ethics boards. Three themes and eleven sub-themes emerged from the data. The three main themes were: 1) Psychological roadblocks to online education; 2) Developing resilience despite adversities; and 3) Online education: What worked and what did not. Through Photovoice, the reflections revealed that nursing students and faculty members were generally overwhelmed with the online education experience. At the same time, participants were satisfied with the flexibility and convenience, opportunities for professional and personal development and safety afforded by online education. However, concerns over academic integrity, practical skills and clinical competencies, engagement and participation, the duality of technology and social isolation out-shadowed the advantages. It is worthwhile to explore the concerns raised to enhance online education across the nursing curriculum.

The COVID-19 pandemic has rerouted the healthcare ecosystem by accelerating digital health, and rapid adoption of eHealth is partly influenced by eHealth literacy (eHL). This study aims to examine patients' eHL in relation to their “technology readiness”—an innate attitude that is underexplored in clinical research. A total of 276 adult inpatients with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and coronary heart disease were surveyed cross-sectionally in 2019 using self-reported questionnaires: eHealth Literacy Scale and Technology Readiness Index (2.0). The study found moderate eHL (mean, 27.38) and moderate technology readiness (mean, 3.03) among patients. The hierarchical regression model shows that lower eHL scores were associated with patients of minor ethnicity (Malaysian Chinese), with an unemployed status, and having >1 cardiovascular risk (β = −0.136 to −0.215, R ² = 0.283, Ps < .005). Technology readiness is a strong determinant of eHL (ΔR ² = 0.295, P < .001) with its subdomains (optimism, innovativeness, and discomfort) significantly influencing eHL (|β| = 0.28-0.40, Ps < .001), except for the insecurity subdomain. Deployment of eHealth interventions that incorporate assessment of patients' eHL and technology readiness will enable targeted strategies, especially in resource-limited settings hit hard by the pandemic crisis.

The Heart-Quality-of-Live (HeartQoL©) measures the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with ischaemic heart disease (IHD) who had mixed condition