Asthma knowledge, attitude and prescribing behavior of primary health care physicians in the kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract EN

Background: Asthma is a serious public health problem, affec^g people of all ages.

When uncontrolled it can cause significant morbidity and mortality, ?©or implementation of the guidelines is considered one of several barriers for achieving asthma control.

Objectives: To determine the asthma knowledge, attitude and prescribing behavior of primary health care physicians in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out fi-om March 2012 to March 2013 among primary health care physicians (PHC) attending asthma workshops as part of a continuing medical education program, louring the study period 5 workshops were conducted which were attended by ?HC physicians.

A self-administered questionnaire was designed to achieve the research objcctivc.

The questionnaire was based primarily on a previous study carried out by the Chicago Asthma Surveillance Initiative (CASI) in the USA; a similar questionnaire was used in a study conducted ط 2004, and permission was taken from the investigators to use it in our study.

Questionnaires were distributed to the study groups at the beginning of each workshop and 192 of the 240 attending doctors completed the questionnaire, an §0% response rate.

Results: The responders were mainly family physicians (66.7%), of whom 73.4% were following asthma guidelines.

The study showed that slightly more than half of ?HC physicians (56.8%) were able to assess the level of asthma control appropriately and the majority of them reported scheduling regular follow-ups for their patients.

However, only 39.1% of PHC physicians were aware ofthe appropriate medication recommended for step 1 and only 37.3% of them reported that they provided written plans for their patients.

Conclusion: Various aspects of GINA guidelines appear to have been integrated into clinical practice by primaiy care physicians in the Kingdom ©fBahrain, whereas other recommandations do not seem to have been readily implemented.