Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Iranian Internists Regarding Diabetes: A Cross Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: A number of studies investigated the general practitioners' and family physicians' knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) on diabetes. However, studies on internists' KAP on diabetes management are limited. This study aimed to investigate the Iranian internists' KAP on diabetes mellitus and its management. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a random sample of internists who participated in the 26th annual congress of internists in Tehran, Iran. The level of KAP and affecting factor was evaluated by a validated instrument. RESULTS: One-hundred internists with the mean age of 41.98±9.26 years were evaluated. Totally, the physicians possessed 66.29%±19.5%, 50.44%±19.39%, and 64.5%±15.3% of the scores in KAP, respectively. The time since graduation in general medicine had significant negative correlation with their knowledge and practice, that was along with the subjects' age (P0.05). Attitude, and practice scores were significantly higher in physicians who were working at diabetes clinic (P<0.05), and attitude was more in physicians working at teaching hospitals compared to those who were not working (57.82 vs. 47.72, P=0.020). CONCLUSION: According to our results, subjects' age and time since graduation in general medicine and specialty were inversely correlated by knowledge and practice. So internists with older age seems to be in priority for educational programs. And holding CME programs in current forms seems to be not suitable to increase the KAP regarding diabetes.

Letter to the Editor: Should We Really Take Anti-Viral Therapy into Account in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients with Normal Liver Function?

No abstract available.

Tuberculosis peritonitis with features of acute abdomen in HIV infection

This case report introduces a 26-year-old male IV drug abuser with fever, abdominal pain and distension referred to the emergency ward. According to these findings, abdominal tenderness and involuntary guarding, an explorative laparotomy was performed. Multiple biopsies of omentum, peritoneum and liver were taken. Pathologic assessment of multiple biopsies confirmed intra-abdominal TB infection