Acta Medica Medianae (Dec 2009)
ESTIMATION OF KNOWLEDGE OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE MEDICAL WORKERS RELATED TO HIV INFECTION IN MUNICIPALITY OF RAŽANJ
Abstract
Ever since recognized to the present day, AIDS has reached pandemic proportions and become great social and medical problem. The aim of this paper was to estimate the level of knowledge of primary health care medical workers related to HIV infection, in the Municipality of Ražanj. The research involved 74 health workers employed in the Primary Health Care Center Ražanj. The research participants were health workers of all profiles. Data collection was done by specially designed questionnaire. A high turnout of health workers (100%) in the conducted research shows that health workers have great interest in the issues related to HIV and AIDS. The research shows that every second examinee, in everyday practice, comes into direct contact with blood and other body fluids of patients, however, having insufficient knowledge about various aspects of HIV infection. Only 3/5 of health workers reach the middle level of knowledge. Self-estimation of knowledge confirms that examinees are aware of their insufficient knowledge from this field (mean grade: 3.14±0.85). High percent (85.1%) of health workers has never been educated about HIV and AIDS. It can be concluded that the level of knowledge of health workers employed in the Primary Health Care Center Ražanj about various aspects HIV infection is insufficient; the education related to HIV/AIDS issues is also missing.
