Journal of Nature and Science of Medicine (Jan 2019)
Knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported practices of pediatric emergency physicians toward the pediatric emergency care applied research network criteria in Al-Qassim region
Abstract
Objective: The study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported practices of pediatric emergency physicians toward Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) criteria among physicians who are covering the emergency room at Ministry of Health Hospitals in the Al-Qassim Region. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A questionnaire that included various sociodemographic variables and items on knowledge, attitude, and self-reported practices was administered. To explore significant differences across different sociodemographic variables, the Mann–Whitney U-test and Kruskal–Wallis test were implemented as appropriate. Results: A total of 117 pediatric emergency physicians were surveyed. The data show a mean knowledge score of 8.17 (standard deviation [SD] 3.14). There were no significance differences in age group, gender, nationality, experience, or doctor category (P > 0.05). However, significant differences were observed in level of education (P = 0.014). The mean score for attitude was 6.81 (SD 2.3). Among sociodemographic variables, only those in educational level (P = 0.004) and experience in years (P = 0.001) were significant. Practice average score was 5.79 (SD 1.8). As in the case of attitude, the data showed significant differences in level of education (P = 0.002), as well as years of experience (P = 0.004). Conclusions: This demonstrates that the application of PECARN in Al-Qassim Province, Saudi Arabia, will minimize the risk of exposure to radiation in the pediatric population with head trauma. Positive knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding PECARN identified pediatric patients at low risk of clinically significant traumatic brain injuries.
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