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Published on: September 22, 2019
Knowledge of chronic intestinal failure among US gastroenterologists: Cause for concern and learning opportunity
Kishore R Iyer1, Marion Winkler2, Nicole Zubizarreta1
1Intestinal Rehabilitation & Transplant Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai/Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, New York, USA.
Background:
Chronic intestinal failure (CIF) is an ultrarare disease, with an estimated national prevalence of ∼25,000 cases. There is a suspicion of widespread lack of expertise in CIF care, but no formal assessment tool or data exist. We developed and validated a knowledge test in CIF and now report our preliminary results from testing CIF knowledge in a cohort of US gastroenterologists.
Method:
We developed a 20-question knowledge test in CIF, covering four key components of IF. After internal testing, refinement, and revision, we administered the test to a convenience sample of experts and nonexperts in IF. We then deployed the validated test to a cohort of 100 US gastroenterologists.
Results:
The test had a Cronbach alpha of 0.74, suggesting a reliable test, with a threshold score to discriminate experts and nonexperts of 13.4 (maximum 20) and with a sensitivity of 81.3% and specificity of 86.4%. The overall mean score of 8.2 for the 100 US gastroenterologists was at the level of nonexperts in our convenience sample.
Conclusion:
The preliminary results of our validated knowledge test in IF among a broad group of US gastroenterologists demonstrate lack of knowledge in IF.
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