Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding tuberculosis and dots among interns in delhi, India

To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding tuberculosis (TB) and DOTS among young medical graduates (interns).

Cross-sectional study.

Lady Hardinge Medical College and Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India, during November and December 2002, simultaneously.

A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire consisting of 30 items was administered to the young medical graduates/interns posted in different departments. The questions covered mode of transmission, symptoms of pulmonary TB, investigations, short course chemotherapy including DOTS as well as conventional anti-tubercular treatment, special situations, health education and chemoprophylaxis.

A total of 287 interns were surveyed. Majority of the study subjects (92.7%) ranked DOTS strategy as more successful for treating tuberculosis in comparison to self-administered therapy. However, a mere 4.2% study subjects were aware of all modes of transmission. One hundred and eighty-nine (65.9%) correctly chose sputum examination for acid fast bacilli as the single most confirmatory test for diagnosing pulmonary TB. The rest either gave incorrect responses (including ELISA-17.0%, PCR-9.8%, X-ray chest-4.2%, ESR-1.7%) or did not respond (1.4%). Only 2.1% marked pyrazinamide and rifampicin as the agents to be avoided in patients with liver disease. One hundred and forty-one different treatment regimens were mentioned in the responses received and of those only 11(7.8%) were scientifically acceptable.

TB is a major health problem in South-East Asian countries. There is a need for appropriate changes to be made in the undergraduate medical teaching/training curriculum in the concerned countries with regard to TB.