RESUMO
health care providers are among those groups with greatest risk of blood born infections as Hepatitis C. This affects their practice toward patients with this type of infection. We conducted this survey to study health care providers' knowledge and attitude toward patients with hepatitis C in Razi Hospital in Rasht to increase our knowledge about this issue as well as to improve professional health level and health care service toward these patients. 239 health care professionals of Razi hospital in Rasht [the central of Guilan province] entered an analytical cross-sectional study. Inclusion criteria were working in Razi hospital as doctors, nurses and operation room technicians. Questionnaires consisted of questions on demographic characteristics, knowledge and attitude toward hepatitis C documented by a pilot study and validated by Cronbach's alpha [alpha= 0.7] which were distributed among participants. Data were collected and analyzed by SPSS 16 software. P=0.05 was considered significant. The mean knowledge score was 17.43 +/- 2.65 [from the total of 22], 51.9% of participants achieved upper scores while 48.1% got scores than this limit lower. There was a significant relationship between knowledge score and age, sex, occupation and Level of education of study group. Also there was a significant relationship between attitude level and age, sex, working and educational Background of population under study. Physicians were significantly more knowledgeable and showed more positive attitudes than the other occupational groups. There was a positive correlation between knowledge scores and attitude scores that means better knowledge correlates with better attitude. Present data show that discriminatory attitude is common among health care providers toward hepatitis C patients. Increasing health care providers' knowledge toward this disease is necessary to provide optimal health services for hepatitis C patients
RESUMO
This study aims to elucidate the knowledge and practice of general practitioners [GP] and internists regarding diagnosis and treatment of Helicobacter pylori [H. pylori] infection in a high prevalent area, with the intent to assist with future educational strategies for H. pylori infection. In this cross-sectional study in Guilan, a Northern Province of Iran, all GPs and internists in the city of Rasht were included. Questionnaires consisted of questions on demographic characteristics in addition to physicians' knowledge and practice regarding H. pylori infection. The questionnaire was verified by a panel of experts, validated by the test-retest method, and distributed among participants. Socres higher than the mean score indicated good knowledge or attitude. Those lower than the mean score indicated poor knowledge and attitude. Data were collected and analyzed by SPSS version 14 software. The mean [SD] knowledge and practice score of physicians was 12.1 +/- 3.13 and 2.37 +/- 1.54, respectively. Overall, 67.9% of GPs and 91.7% of internists exhibited good knowledge scores, while 72.4% of GPs and 95.8% of internists showed good practice. Physicians who used books or educational programs and had working histories of less than 10 years scored significantly higher in terms of mean knowledge. The mean practice score of physicians who worked in public units and had working histories of more than 5 years and those who had used books or educational programs was significantly higher. Since H.pylori infection is prevalent in Iran and GPs' practices are directly under the influence of knowledge, it is necessary to attempt to increase the level and quality of information among GPs by educational and Continuing Medical Education programs and seminars