Knowledge and Awareness of Cervical Cancer and Screening Practices among Nurses at Lahore General Hospital, Pakistan

Abstract

Objective: To find out the knowledge, awareness and screening practices of cervical cancer among nurses at Lahore general Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan.
 Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, interview based study was conducted on 250 nurses at Lahore general Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. The duration of this study was one year from 2017 to 2018. All the cases underwent interview based information regarding cervical cases. The questionnaire was applied to assess the knowledge, awareness and screening practices about cervical cancer among nurses. Data was collected via self-made proforma.
 Results: Most of the study participants were less than 35 years. 72% nurses were married and 28% were married. Most of the study participants 96% known that cervical cancer is the abnormal growth of cervical cells and few were unaware regarding it. According to causes of cervical cancer, 70% to 75.6% participants agreed with the causes of early marriage and multiple sex partners, while others had ideas of smoking, infection and hereditary causes. 25.5% nurses answered that it can occur in any age group, 11.2% replied in reproductive age group, 42.8% were agreed with menopausal age group and 20.4% had no idea. 75.6% to 95.5% nurses were in the favor of scanning, pap smear test and cervical biopsy methods. 85 participants said it is a preventable disease via vaccination, early diagnosis and safe sex activities.
 Conclusion: It was concluded that nurses had satisfactory knowledge and screening practice cervical cancer at Lahore general Hospital.

Nurses, Knowledge and Attitude regarding Cervical Cancer Screening in Erbil City

“…The current study showed that most participants (76.8%) knew that a pap smear test can detect both cancerous and precancerous lesions. This result agrees with studies done by authors Singh et al and Ayub et al [17,18]. Married nurses were more aware than unmarried women, because they are more likely to approach a health facility for obstetric, gynaecological, or other reasons, where they would be offered opportunistic screening during these visits.…”

“…This result is supported by other studies reporting that the participants were aged between 26 and 30 years and were married (61.7%) [17], ages of samples were between 26 and 40 years, and a majority (90%) of them were married [16]. In a cross-sectional study by Ayub in Pakistan among nursing staff, their ages were between 25-34, and more than two-thirds of nurses (72%) were married [18]. Another result agrees with the present study, which was done in an institution in rural India by Shekhar among nursing staff their age was between (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29) and most of them (86.6%) were married [19].…”

“…In developed countries, cervical cancer prevention has been successful thanks to simple and inexpensive screening tests that aid in the identification of pre-invasive cervical changes that develop and progress slowly over the years prior to the development of invasive cervix cancer, and treatment of these precursor lesions has greatly reduced the incidence of invasive cervix cancer in worldwide. Other procedures, such as colposcopy and cervical biopsies, necessitate training and money [18]. This study aimed to learn more about nurses' knowledge and attitudes towards cervical screening.…”

Knowledge and Attitude of Cervical Cancer Screening and Vaccination in Patients Attending Gynecology Outpatient Clinic at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan

“…31 Inadequacy of knowledge is not restricted to any segment, but it prevails all across the demographic in our population regardless of professor and education level. [32][33][34] Our study has certain limitations. Single-center coverage with a relatively small sample size can be the main limitation toward the generalizability of our study findings.…”

“…31 Inadequacy of knowledge is not restricted to any segment, but it prevails all across the demographic in our population regardless of professor and education level. 32 33 34…”