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Survey of knowledge about tuberculosis amongst family physicians
1Department of Chest Medicine, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Liaquat National Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi.
Objective:
To investigate the knowledge, attitudes and practices pertaining to tuberculosis (TB) amongst family physicians.
Method:
A questionnaire-based study in which 150 family physicians were interviewed.
Results:
Of the family physicians 21.3% considered that TB is not a serious problem; 29% did not advise BCG vaccination as they considered that BCG vaccination has adverse side effects and limited usefulness. Only 38% depended on sputum analysis for diagnosis and 39% were prescribing four drug regimen for newly diagnosed TB patients. Majority of family physicians were prescribing the drugs that are classified currently as non-recommendable. Only 7.3% were able to write down the correct contents and quantity of tablets of what they were prescribing.
Conclusion:
There are many misunderstandings about the transmission of tuberculosis and BCG vaccinations. Method of diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of treatment by and large is not satisfactory.