Does activity held on World Asthma Day have an impact on the asthma knowledge and awareness of family physicians?

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Annually, certain activities are performed on World Asthma Day (WAD) for theawareness of both patients and physicians about asthma. The study aimed to observe the effects ofasthma education on the skills and knowledge of family physicians on WAD, which basically includesupdated information of the international asthma guideline.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our quasi‑experimental study was started on May 3, 2016, WAD.Education was provided by the Global Initiative for Asthma, 2016. A questionnaire including 25questions was applied for family physicians before and 6 months after the education.RESULTS: In the investigation of 32 family physicians, 62.5% were women, with 32.6 ± 26.0 months infamily physician practice. 59.4% of the family physicians had received education about asthma in theirpostgraduate period. Twenty‑five percent of the participants were using asthma guidelines in their dailypractice. In pre‑ and posteducation, the percentage of accuracy in the tests was 58.4%–77.6% amongspecialists and 62.3%–75.9% among trainees of family physicians. The percentage levels of accuracydeveloped in the questions of focusing asthma treatment and correct inhaler medication use afterthe education program were 62.5%–93.8% (P = 0.002) and 56.2%–90.6% (P = 0.007), respectively.CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that family physicians did not have a tendency to use guidelinesfor asthma diagnosis and treatment. With the aid of the education program, their attitude changedpositively. We believe that family asthma physicians should also be trained in “WAD” activities.