Status quo of knowledge, attitudes and practice of general practitioners on potentially inappropriate medication in the elderly in Shanxi Province and relevant factors / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the levels of knowledge, attitudes and practice of general practitioners on potentially inappropriate medication(PIM)in the elders in Shanxi Province and to explore its relevant factors.Methods:A cross-sectional survey on knowledge, attitudes and practice of general practitioners on PIM in the elders was conducted from January to February 2021. A self-designed questionnaire was used for the survey, which included the basic information of general practitioners and the knowledge, attitudes and practice of elderly PIM. The convenient sampling method was used to select 16 primary, secondary and tertiary hospitals from the general practice alliance units in Shanxi Province, and 257 general practitioners in the selected hospital were recruited as the research objects. The related factors were investigated by univariate regression and multiple stepwise linear regression analyses.Results:A total of 257 questionnaires were distributed, and 248 valid questionnaires were recovered, with an effective rate of 96.5%. The scores of elderly PIM knowledge, attitudes and behavior of 248 general practitioners were (31.4±9.2), (32.9±4.6) and (34.9±8.3), respectively, with the scoring rates of 62.8% (31.4/50.0), 82.3% (32.9/40.0) and 69.8% (34.9/50.0). The total score was (99.2±16.3), and the total score rate was 70.9% (99.2/140.0). There was a statistically significant difference in the total score of elderly PIM knowledge, attitudes and practice among general practitioners with different educational background, work units, professional title, awareness level of PIM and needs for PIM training( F=6.14,4.39 and 5.38, t=2.97 and 2.62, all P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that general practitioners with undergraduate and graduate education and higher professional titles had better knowledge, attitudes and practice of PIM ( t=2.69, 2.98 and 2.36, all P<0.05), and general practitioners without knowledge of PIM and no needs for PIM training had worse knowledge, attitudes and practice of PIM ( t=-2.96 and -2.09, all P<0.05). Conclusions:The knowledge, attitudes and behavior intervention of general practitioners on elderly PIM needs to be improved. It is necessary to strengthen the elderly PIM knowledge and skill training for general practitioners with low educational background, lower professional titles without awareness and training of PIM.