Physician Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Medical Genomics/Genetically Related Diseases in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Abstract

There is a paucity of data on the knowledge of genomic medicine and heritable diseases, attitudes and practice of genomic medicine among physicians in the Niger Delta region of Bayelsa State. This study was thus aimed at evaluating the knowledge of, attitude and practice of genomic medicine by physicians in a resource poor country in Africa as depicted by Bayelsa state, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of 200 physicians in public and private hospitals in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The data was analyzed using SPSS. The results showed that 54.8% of the physicians had a fair knowledge of genetic medicine, 71.15% of respondents had a poor attitude and this was also reflected in their poor practice where most respondents, (83.33%) claimed that their practice was hampered by lack of diagnostic tools and only 33.04% had knowledge of basic genotyping techniques. In conclusion, the data suggests a fair knowledge of and a poor attitude towards genetic medicine amongst practicing physicians in Bayelsa state, Nigeria. This suggests that it is imperative to establish a perceived need to learn more about genetic medicine if the promise of genomics has to be established in Africa.