Awareness regarding animal bite management among resident doctors of tertiary care institute of Northern India

Abstract

Background: According to the WHO, rabies incidence in India has been constant for a decade, without any obvious declining trend. It has been seen that there is a lack of awareness among health professionals about animal bite management. Therefore, for success of National Rabies control programs, it is of utmost importance to assess their training needs. Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess knowledge and practice regarding animal bite management among resident doctors of the Government Rajindra Hospital Patiala, Punjab. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey using a self-administered pretested questionnaire. The overall knowledge and practices were assessed using sum score of each outcome based on Bloom's cutoff point 60%–80%). Analysis of variance was used and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of 386 residents, government doctors (junior resident/senior resident [JR/SR]) constitute 30% (116) and fresh doctors 70% (270). Government doctors (SRs) have mean age of 40 ± 6.2 years and 13.23 ± 7.6 years of service. JRs from government cadre are comparatively young with 5.4 ± 3.1 years of government service. Overall, there are many gaps in the knowledge and practice of all the residents. Government cadre SRs and JRs have shown slightly better knowledge and practices than fresh residents. It is surprising that majority (63.7%) of experienced government doctor have shown moderate knowledge and 30% of them have poor K-P score with just 5% of them have high score. Similar trend was seen in JR of government cadre. Awareness was even less in fresh JRs and least in fresh SRs. Conclusion: The knowledge and practice is inadequate in all the residents. State health department and medical colleges must collaborate and start reorientation programs and continued medical education.