Measles surveillance in Qatar, 2008: physicians’ knowledge and practices and support received

Abstract

Qatar is in the elimination phase of measles control which requires every suspected measles case to be notified and investigated immediately This cross-sectional study aimed to assess physicians' self-reported knowledge and practices concerning measles surveillance and the support they received. Of 290 physicians participating in the study, only 22.4% met the criterion for best practice in measles surveillance (i.e. knowing and applying the case definition and immediately ordering the correct blood test and immediately reporting suspected cases). Only 14.1% reported getting training and feedback on surveillance. Physicians supervised on their surveillance activities had significantly better surveillance practices than non-supervised physicians, whereas physicians who received training and feedback on their surveillance activities did not perform any better than those who did not. We recommend training activities for physicians and health care workers involved in the measles control as well a system of feedback to health care workers.