Accepted for/Published in: Interactive Journal of Medical Research
Date Submitted: Nov 9, 2020
Date Accepted: Apr 14, 2021
Knowledge of sleep disorders among physicians at a tertiary care hospital in Qatar: A cross-sectional study.
ABSTRACT
Background:
Sleep disorders (SD) constitute a major health problem because of their relatively high and rising prevalence. Several studies have analyzed the knowledge of SD among healthcare providers worldwide. We aimed to assess the knowledge of SD among physicians in Qatar
Objective:
To assess the knowledge of sleep medicine among physicians working in a tertiary care hospital.
Methods:
Total of 250 physicians were surveyed regarding their knowledge in sleep medicine using a validated 30 item “ASKME Survey”. The participants included residents, fellows and consultants in medicine and allied subspecialties. A score ≥60% was considered a high score implying adequate knowledge of SD.
Results:
Response was received from 158 physicians with a responder rate of 63.2%. We analyzed the data from 34 residents, 74 clinical fellows and 50 consultants. The overall mean score was 15.53± 4.42 out of 30. Only 57 (36%) respondents were able to answer ≥60% of the questions correctly. There was no statistically significant difference in the scores of the participants with regard to their ranks (residents, fellows, consultants) or years of training
Conclusions:
This study demonstrates that healthcare providers in Qatar have decreased awareness and knowledge about sleep medicine which may reflect a lesser emphasis during medical school and medical training on SD. Increasing awareness regarding sleep medicine among non-specialist physicians will allow early detection and treatment of SD, improving the morbidity attached with these disorders Clinical Trial: The research was approved by the Institutional review board MRC-01-18-022
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