Knowledge, attitudes and awareness of the human papillomavirus amongst primary care practice nurses: an evaluation of current training in England.

H Patel,D Tincello,S M Sherman,E L Moss,K Austin-Smith

doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdw063

Abstract

The incorporation of Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing into the English cervical screening programme has been met with fear and anxiety. Healthcare professionals need to be adequately informed about HPV to help alleviate patient concerns. The aim of this study was to evaluate the HPV training provided to practice nurses (PNs) and determine their level of HPV knowledge. A web-based survey was distributed to 147 General Practice surgeries in the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland regions, between May and July 2015. The survey explored four broad areas; demographics/level of experience, HPV knowledge, attitudes towards the HPV vaccine and self-perceived adequacy of HPV knowledge. A total of 128 surveys were completed, with 94 complete responses. Overall awareness of basic HPV facts was adequate; however, detailed, and in some cases basic, knowledge was lacking. 9.6% failed to identify that HPV can cause cervical cancer and 62.8% believed that HPV requires treatment. Not all PNs felt adequately informed about HPV and a need to improve the provision of training was identified. PNs play a key role in increasing public awareness of HPV and implementing cervical cancer screening. The provision of education to PNs needs to be a priority and current methods of training need to be re-evaluated.

Highlights

Since Professor Zur Hausen first identified the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the development of cervical cancer over 3 decades ago[1, 2], knowledge of the relationship between the two has increased multi-fold
Just over a fifth were unaware that HPV could be passed on by genital skin to skin contact or that it is responsible for genital warts and confusion existed regarding the role of test of cure (TOC) and the impact it has on follow-up post-treatment
practice nurses (PN) lacked up-to-date HPV vaccine information, 24.5% were not aware of the new two dose vaccine schedule[19] and 35.1% did not know of the added protection provided by the quadrivalent vaccine against genital warts

Summary

Introduction

Since Professor Zur Hausen first identified the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the development of cervical cancer over 3 decades ago[1, 2], knowledge of the relationship between the two has increased multi-fold. The two most widely used HPV vaccines globally are the bivalent and the quadrivalent vaccines[4], which provide protection against the high-risk HPV types 16 and 18, reported to account for 70% of all cervical cancers[5]. Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing into the English cervical screening programme has been met with fear and anxiety. The aim of this study was to evaluate the HPV training provided to practice nurses (PN) and determine their level of HPV knowledge. Not all PN felt adequately informed about HPV and a need to improve the provision of training was identified. The provision of education to PN needs to be a priority and current methods of training need to be re-evaluated

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion