Page 8 - NIH Bulletin Vol 18 July-December 2021

Bulletin National Institutes of Health, Malaysia Vol 18 • July - December 2021

WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES FOR NIH SCIENTIFIC MONTH 2021:
IHSR’S CHALLENGES

AND LESSONS LEARNED

Dr. Nur Elina binti Abdul Mutalib, Mr Ang Zen Yang and Sister Noor Hasidah Binti Ab.Rahman

The NIH Research Month 2021 (NRM 2021) was held from 1 11. Behavioral Insight IHBR
September to 30 September 2021. The Institute for Health
Systems Research (IHSR) was designated as the secretariat 8. Introduction to Tableau Office
for the implementation of workshops and clinics, chaired of NIH
by the director, Dr. Nor Izzah binti Hj Ahmad Shauki. The Manager
key responsibilities of IHSR was to ensure proper workshop
planning and execution, develop, prepare, and compile data Clinics
into a database to aid management. A series of meetings 1. Research Consultation Clinic Office
with the committee were held to ensure proper operation of of NIH
the programme. Manager

IHSR worked with the Sector for Information Technology in 2.. Lean Healthcare Clinic
planning, preparing and advertising, and ensuring efficiency IHM
of the programme. NRM 2021 was first announced on the 3. Action Research Clinic
Postmaster platform, followed by the NIH website, and the 4. Spatial Analysis Using GIS
Ministry of Health’s portal. The registration was done through
the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN) Event 5. Epidemiological Analysis Using ‘R’ IMR
Management Gateway (i-EMG) application. and Phyton
A total of 18 courses were conducted during the NRM 2021, Symposium
including 12 workshops, 5 clinics, and 1 symposium. Details of
the courses are as below: 1. Zoonotic Diseases Symposium: IMR
Challenges and the Way Forward

No. Course Organiser In this brief write up, we are humbled to document challenges
Workshops we faced working behind the scenes to make this inaugural
virtual scientific month a success, along with the lessons
1. Opening Doors to Data: Use of learned and how we can improve.
Secondary Data for Research
ICR Challenges in organizing virtual workshops
2. Creating Case Report Form using
Redcap We organized three workshops during the conference:
Research Highlight, Costing Analysis, and Polish and Publish.
3. Hazard vs. Risk. What’s the Below are the things we learned:
Difference?
1. Promotional activities. Although the central organising
4. Connecting the Dots: Championing committee for the NIH Research Month promoted the
Research on Inborn Errors of pre-conference events, the organising team also took the
Metabolism (IEM) IMR initiative to contact the Corporate and Communication

5. Environmental Health Modeling & Unit Ministry of Health (MOH) to post pamphlets of the
Remote Sensing programme in the MOH’s general mailing list to reach a
wider audience. It would have been more efficient if this
6. The Safety Herbal Medicine: From process was coordinated centrally.
Nature to Products
2. Registration of the participants. There were some
7. Complex sampling design analysis NIH technical problems during the registration process
involving dual entry and feasibility of the system. It would
8. Polish & Publish
be good to upgrade the system to include automated
9. Research Highlight IHSR communication and feedback with participants.

10. Costing of Healthcare

6