Knowledge and Attitude of Doctors in Primary Care Settings Towards Thyroid Disorders: An Interventional Study

Nora Nabil Hussien; Rasha Mohammed Bahaa Eldin

doi:doi:10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11

| Peer-Reviewed

Knowledge and Attitude of Doctors in Primary Care Settings Towards Thyroid Disorders: An Interventional Study

Nora Nabil Hussien, Rasha Mohammed Bahaa Eldin

Published in Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 9, Issue 2)

Received: 11 February 2021 Accepted: 1 March 2021 Published: 10 March 2021

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

Thyroid disorders are important and growing health problems worldwide. However, considering real life, assessment of knowledge and attitudes of physicians towards thyroid diseases in primary care is lacking. The study aimed to determine the difference in knowledge and attitudes of Family physicians (FPs), General Practitioners (GPs) and internists in primary care settings of Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) towards Hypo and hyperthyroidism before and after medical education. This study is a pre-post interventional study done in primary health care facilities on 70 physicians from the three medical disciplines. Doctors were interviewed at their work place with a questionnaire consisting of personal data of the doctor and twenty questions about knowledge and attitudes towards thyroid disorders then they were handled the ideal answers according to the guidelines and the interview was repeated after two months. This study revealed that the mean age of physicians was 34±7.8, the mean duration of work was 6.8±5 years. The pre- interventional knowledge of internists was superior to family physicians and general practitioners. There was a highly significant change of physician knowledge (from 4.1±1.4 to 8±1.6) after intervention and there was a weakly significant change in attitude (from 3.1±0.9 to 3.2±0.9 and from 3.1±1.5 to 3.3±1.6 respectively) among general practitioners and family physicians after intervention. It was concluded that doctors from the three medical disciplines had a significant change in their responses to knowledge questions after intervention. So, it’s a must to train doctors in primary care how-to pick-up cases of thyroid disorders and how to manage them according to the guidelines and when they need to refer these cases.

Published in	Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 9, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11
Page(s)	36-42
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Primary Care, Family Physician, Thyroid Disorders, Knowledge, Attitude

References

[1]	Diab N, Daya NR, Juraschek SP, Martin SS, McEvoy JW, Schultheiß UT. Prevalence and risk factors of thyroid dysfunction in older adults in the community. Sci Rep 2019; 9 (1): 13156. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-49540-z.
[2]	Aryal M, Gyawali P, Rajbh N, Aryal P and Raj D. A prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in Kathmandu University Hospital, Nepal, Biomedical Research 2010; 21 (4): 411-415.
[3]	Sulejmanovic M, Jakubovic A, Salkic S, and Mujaric F. Annual incidence of thyroid disease in patients who first time visit department for thyroid diseases in Tuzla Canton Mater. Sociomed 2019; 31 (2): 130–134. doi: 10.5455/msm.2019.31.130-134. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6690314/.
[4]	Asmelash D, Tesfa K and Biadgo B. Thyroid dysfunction and cytological patterns among patients requested for thyroid function test in an endemic goiter area of Gondar, North West Ethiopia. International Journal of Endocrinology 2019. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/9106767.
[5]	Al Shahrani A, El-Metwally, Al-Surimi K, Salih S, Saleh Y, Al-Shehri A. The epidemiology of thyroid diseases in the Arab world: A systematic review. Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology 2016; 8 (2): 17-26. doi: 10.5897/JPHE2015.0713.
[6]	Rashad NM, Samir GM. Prevalence, risks, and comorbidity of thyroid dysfunction: a cross-sectional epidemiological study. Egypt J Intern Med 2019; 31: 635-41.
[7]	Kut A, Kalli H, Anil C, Mousa U and Gursoy A. Knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of physicians towards thyroid disorders and iodine requirements in pregnancy, Journal of Endocrinological Investigation 2015; 38: 1057–1064. doi: 10.1007/s40618-015-0275-x.
[8]	American Academy of Family Physicians. Hypothyroidism: An update. Am Fam Physician 2012; 1; 86 (3): 244-251. https://www.aafp.org/afp/2012/0801/p244.html.
[9]	Boran G and Sherlock M. A quick reference guide for use of thyroid function tests in primary care. National Clinical Programme for Pathology. 2016 https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/cspd/ncps/pathology/resources/guideline-4-use-of-tyroid-function-tests-in-primary-care.pdf.
[10]	American Academy of Family Physicians. Hyperthyroidism: Diagnosis and treatment. Am Fam Physician 2016; 1: 93 (5): 363-370. https://www.aafp.org/afp/2016/0301/p363.html.
[11]	British Thyroid Foundation. Your guide to thyroid function tests. 2018 https://www.btf-thyroid.org/thyroid-function-tests.
[12]	American Academy of Family Physicians. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force screening for thyroid dysfunction: Recommendation statement. Am Fam Physician 2015; 1: 91 (11). https://www.aafp.org/afp/2015/0601/od1.html.
[13]	American Academy of Family Physicians. Subclinical Hyperthyroidism: When to consider treatment. Am Fam Physician 2017; 95 (11): 710-716. https://www.aafp.org/afp/2017/0601/p710.pdf.
[14]	Abdalla ME, Suliman RA. Overview of medical schools in the Eastern Mediterranean Region of the World Health Organization. Eastern Mediterranean Health J 2013; 19: 12–15.
[15]	Abdelaziz A, Kassab SE, Abdelnasser A, Hosny S. Medical education in Egypt: Historical background, current status, and challenges. Health Professions Education 2018; (4): 236–244.
[16]	Jones R. Oxford textbook of primary medical care: Primary care and general practice in Middle East: Principles and concepts. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 2016.
[17]	The Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office of the World Health Organization (EMRO-WHO). Report on: Review of medical education in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Challenges, priorities and a framework for action, regional committee for the Eastern Mediterranean. 2015. http://applications.emro.who.int/docs/RC_technical_papers_20153_16503_EN.pdf? Ua¼1.
[18]	Negro R, Dazzi D, Pezzarossa A. The management of thyroid disease by GPs. Family practice. Oxford University Press 2001; 18 (2): 195-198.
[19]	Dew R, King K, Okosieme OE, Pearce SH, Donovan G, Taylor PN. Attitudes and perceptions of health professionals towards management of hypothyroidism in general practice: a qualitative interview study. BMJ 2018; 8: e 019970. doi: 10. 1136/bmjopen-2017-019970.
[20]	American Thyroid Associations. Hypothyroidism. A booklet for patient and their families. 2019. https://www.thyroid.org/wp-content/uploads/patients/brochures/Hypothyroidism_web_booklet.pdf?pdf=Hypothyroidism%20Booklet.
[21]	Todd CH. Management of thyroid disorders in primary care: Challenges and controversies. Postgrad Med J 2009; 85: 655 659. doi: 10.1136/pgmj.2008.077701 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/pgmj.2008.077701.
[22]	Bathgate G. New diagnosis of hyperthyroidism in primary care. BMJ 2018; 362: k2880 doi: 10.1136/bmj. K 2880.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Nora Nabil Hussien, Rasha Mohammed Bahaa Eldin. (2021). Knowledge and Attitude of Doctors in Primary Care Settings Towards Thyroid Disorders: An Interventional Study. Science Journal of Public Health, 9(2), 36-42. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Nora Nabil Hussien; Rasha Mohammed Bahaa Eldin. Knowledge and Attitude of Doctors in Primary Care Settings Towards Thyroid Disorders: An Interventional Study. Sci. J. Public Health 2021, 9(2), 36-42. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Nora Nabil Hussien, Rasha Mohammed Bahaa Eldin. Knowledge and Attitude of Doctors in Primary Care Settings Towards Thyroid Disorders: An Interventional Study. Sci J Public Health. 2021;9(2):36-42. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11,
  author = {Nora Nabil Hussien and Rasha Mohammed Bahaa Eldin},
  title = {Knowledge and Attitude of Doctors in Primary Care Settings Towards Thyroid Disorders: An Interventional Study},
  journal = {Science Journal of Public Health},
  volume = {9},
  number = {2},
  pages = {36-42},
  doi = {10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjph.20210902.11},
  abstract = {Thyroid disorders are important and growing health problems worldwide. However, considering real life, assessment of knowledge and attitudes of physicians towards thyroid diseases in primary care is lacking. The study aimed to determine the difference in knowledge and attitudes of Family physicians (FPs), General Practitioners (GPs) and internists in primary care settings of Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) towards Hypo and hyperthyroidism before and after medical education. This study is a pre-post interventional study done in primary health care facilities on 70 physicians from the three medical disciplines. Doctors were interviewed at their work place with a questionnaire consisting of personal data of the doctor and twenty questions about knowledge and attitudes towards thyroid disorders then they were handled the ideal answers according to the guidelines and the interview was repeated after two months. This study revealed that the mean age of physicians was 34±7.8, the mean duration of work was 6.8±5 years. The pre- interventional knowledge of internists was superior to family physicians and general practitioners. There was a highly significant change of physician knowledge (from 4.1±1.4 to 8±1.6) after intervention and there was a weakly significant change in attitude (from 3.1±0.9 to 3.2±0.9 and from 3.1±1.5 to 3.3±1.6 respectively) among general practitioners and family physicians after intervention. It was concluded that doctors from the three medical disciplines had a significant change in their responses to knowledge questions after intervention. So, it’s a must to train doctors in primary care how-to pick-up cases of thyroid disorders and how to manage them according to the guidelines and when they need to refer these cases.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Knowledge and Attitude of Doctors in Primary Care Settings Towards Thyroid Disorders: An Interventional Study
AU  - Nora Nabil Hussien
AU  - Rasha Mohammed Bahaa Eldin
Y1  - 2021/03/10
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11
T2  - Science Journal of Public Health
JF  - Science Journal of Public Health
JO  - Science Journal of Public Health
SP  - 36
EP  - 42
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-7950
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11
AB  - Thyroid disorders are important and growing health problems worldwide. However, considering real life, assessment of knowledge and attitudes of physicians towards thyroid diseases in primary care is lacking. The study aimed to determine the difference in knowledge and attitudes of Family physicians (FPs), General Practitioners (GPs) and internists in primary care settings of Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) towards Hypo and hyperthyroidism before and after medical education. This study is a pre-post interventional study done in primary health care facilities on 70 physicians from the three medical disciplines. Doctors were interviewed at their work place with a questionnaire consisting of personal data of the doctor and twenty questions about knowledge and attitudes towards thyroid disorders then they were handled the ideal answers according to the guidelines and the interview was repeated after two months. This study revealed that the mean age of physicians was 34±7.8, the mean duration of work was 6.8±5 years. The pre- interventional knowledge of internists was superior to family physicians and general practitioners. There was a highly significant change of physician knowledge (from 4.1±1.4 to 8±1.6) after intervention and there was a weakly significant change in attitude (from 3.1±0.9 to 3.2±0.9 and from 3.1±1.5 to 3.3±1.6 respectively) among general practitioners and family physicians after intervention. It was concluded that doctors from the three medical disciplines had a significant change in their responses to knowledge questions after intervention. So, it’s a must to train doctors in primary care how-to pick-up cases of thyroid disorders and how to manage them according to the guidelines and when they need to refer these cases.
VL  - 9
IS  - 2
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Nora Nabil Hussien

Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
Rasha Mohammed Bahaa Eldin

Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Nora Nabil Hussien, Rasha Mohammed Bahaa Eldin. (2021). Knowledge and Attitude of Doctors in Primary Care Settings Towards Thyroid Disorders: An Interventional Study. Science Journal of Public Health, 9(2), 36-42. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Nora Nabil Hussien; Rasha Mohammed Bahaa Eldin. Knowledge and Attitude of Doctors in Primary Care Settings Towards Thyroid Disorders: An Interventional Study. Sci. J. Public Health 2021, 9(2), 36-42. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Nora Nabil Hussien, Rasha Mohammed Bahaa Eldin. Knowledge and Attitude of Doctors in Primary Care Settings Towards Thyroid Disorders: An Interventional Study. Sci J Public Health. 2021;9(2):36-42. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11,
  author = {Nora Nabil Hussien and Rasha Mohammed Bahaa Eldin},
  title = {Knowledge and Attitude of Doctors in Primary Care Settings Towards Thyroid Disorders: An Interventional Study},
  journal = {Science Journal of Public Health},
  volume = {9},
  number = {2},
  pages = {36-42},
  doi = {10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjph.20210902.11},
  abstract = {Thyroid disorders are important and growing health problems worldwide. However, considering real life, assessment of knowledge and attitudes of physicians towards thyroid diseases in primary care is lacking. The study aimed to determine the difference in knowledge and attitudes of Family physicians (FPs), General Practitioners (GPs) and internists in primary care settings of Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) towards Hypo and hyperthyroidism before and after medical education. This study is a pre-post interventional study done in primary health care facilities on 70 physicians from the three medical disciplines. Doctors were interviewed at their work place with a questionnaire consisting of personal data of the doctor and twenty questions about knowledge and attitudes towards thyroid disorders then they were handled the ideal answers according to the guidelines and the interview was repeated after two months. This study revealed that the mean age of physicians was 34±7.8, the mean duration of work was 6.8±5 years. The pre- interventional knowledge of internists was superior to family physicians and general practitioners. There was a highly significant change of physician knowledge (from 4.1±1.4 to 8±1.6) after intervention and there was a weakly significant change in attitude (from 3.1±0.9 to 3.2±0.9 and from 3.1±1.5 to 3.3±1.6 respectively) among general practitioners and family physicians after intervention. It was concluded that doctors from the three medical disciplines had a significant change in their responses to knowledge questions after intervention. So, it’s a must to train doctors in primary care how-to pick-up cases of thyroid disorders and how to manage them according to the guidelines and when they need to refer these cases.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Knowledge and Attitude of Doctors in Primary Care Settings Towards Thyroid Disorders: An Interventional Study
AU  - Nora Nabil Hussien
AU  - Rasha Mohammed Bahaa Eldin
Y1  - 2021/03/10
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11
T2  - Science Journal of Public Health
JF  - Science Journal of Public Health
JO  - Science Journal of Public Health
SP  - 36
EP  - 42
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-7950
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20210902.11
AB  - Thyroid disorders are important and growing health problems worldwide. However, considering real life, assessment of knowledge and attitudes of physicians towards thyroid diseases in primary care is lacking. The study aimed to determine the difference in knowledge and attitudes of Family physicians (FPs), General Practitioners (GPs) and internists in primary care settings of Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) towards Hypo and hyperthyroidism before and after medical education. This study is a pre-post interventional study done in primary health care facilities on 70 physicians from the three medical disciplines. Doctors were interviewed at their work place with a questionnaire consisting of personal data of the doctor and twenty questions about knowledge and attitudes towards thyroid disorders then they were handled the ideal answers according to the guidelines and the interview was repeated after two months. This study revealed that the mean age of physicians was 34±7.8, the mean duration of work was 6.8±5 years. The pre- interventional knowledge of internists was superior to family physicians and general practitioners. There was a highly significant change of physician knowledge (from 4.1±1.4 to 8±1.6) after intervention and there was a weakly significant change in attitude (from 3.1±0.9 to 3.2±0.9 and from 3.1±1.5 to 3.3±1.6 respectively) among general practitioners and family physicians after intervention. It was concluded that doctors from the three medical disciplines had a significant change in their responses to knowledge questions after intervention. So, it’s a must to train doctors in primary care how-to pick-up cases of thyroid disorders and how to manage them according to the guidelines and when they need to refer these cases.
VL  - 9
IS  - 2
ER  -

Copy | Download