Knowledge Level of the Family Medicine Residents and Specialists about Asymptomatic Bacteriuria during Pregnancy

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: This study aims to determine the approaches and level of knowledge of family medicine residents and specialists about asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study conducted between March and August 2018, with easy sampling, reaching the maximum number of physicians through the website we designed for this project. A questionnaire containing 19 questions created by the researchers was applied to family medicine residents and specialists in Turkey, after filling voluntary consent forms. SPSS 21 statistics program was used for descriptive statistical analyzes. RESULTS: A total of 252 people, 166 (65.9%) family medicine residents (FMRs), 86 (34.1%) family medicine specialists (FMSs) participated in the study. During the pregnancy follow-up, 102 physicians (27 FMSs and 75 FMRs) requested complete urinalysis (CUA) and urine culture together. In order to be able to diagnose asymptomatic bacteriuria in urine culture, 55 of FMSs (64.0%) and 91 of FMRs (54.8%) gave the correct answer to the question that the number of bacteria should be more than 105. In the treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy, it was determined that the FMSs and FMRs mostly preferred ampicillin. Most of the participants in the study were aware of the complications of Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) used in the treatment. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: According to our study; We found that the knowledge level of family medicine specialists and residents about asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy was insufficient. For this reason, we think that conducting new studies on this subject in the literature and involving a large number of participants will increase awareness of this issue.

Keywords

• asymptomatic bacteriuria
• family medicine
• pregnancy