Assessment of Knowledge of Glaucoma in General Practitioners, Resident Doctors and Interns in Anand District, Gujarat, India

Abstract

Introduction: Glaucoma has been established as the second most leading cause of blindness after cataract, which is usually irreversible and accounts for 10.1% of total blindness worldwide. Glaucoma has affected 79.6 million people worldwide by 2020. The estimated prevalence of glaucoma in India is 12 million. The Government of India aims to reduce the prevalence of blindness to 0.25/1000 by 2025 and disease burden by one third from current levels. In a developing country, like India, ‘physician of first contact’ may be a general practitioner, resident doctor or intern. Aim: To assess knowledge of glaucoma in general practitioners, resident doctors and interns in Anand district, Gujarat and to identify the level of difference of knowledge in each group and to suggest remedial measures for the same. Materials and Methods: A descriptive semi-structured questionnaire based cross-sectional study was conducted in Pramukhswami Medical College, Karamsad, Gujarat, India, after obtaining ethical clearance from the Institutional Ethics Committee between July 2017 to September 2017. Informed written consent was taken from 240 medical doctors comprising of interns (undergoing compulsory rotatory internship), 1st to 3rd year resident doctors (postgraduate students) working in different wards of all the clinical department and general practitioners practising in radius of 15 kilometers from the main hospital located in Anand district of Gujarat state (80 in each category) and a questionnaire was administered. Participants were inquired about the knowledge of glaucoma, the sneak thief of sight. Residents of Ophthalmology were excluded to avoid bias. Cramer’s V association, Chi-square test and Fisher's-Exact tests were applied for data analysis. Results: Respondents included general practitioners, residents and interns (80:80:80). Glaucoma knowledge was to be higher in residents as compared to interns and general practitioners. About 78.75% residents scored 7 and above out of 10 whereas 61.25% interns and 50% general practitioners obtained the same score. Conclusion: The authors found that knowledge about glaucoma in multi-scale medical practitioners was not uniform and reasonably less than it should be. Resident doctors (fresh graduates and completed compulsory rotatory internship) have better knowledge about various aspects of glaucoma as compared to general practitioners and interns which demands the need for frequent reorientation programme and internship in Ophthalmology guiding about various aspects of disease entities responsible for blindness.

Keywords

• blindness
• healthcare professionals
• irreversible optic neuropathy
• primary open angle glaucoma