Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Health Care Workers in the Management of Peptic Ulcer at the Paul VI and the Bogodogo District Hospitals, in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Background:In 2015, peptic ulcer disease (PUD) was cause of 52.3% and 17% of digestive bleeding and death in respectively among in-hospital patients at the gastro-enterology units of the main hospital in Ouagadougou. We aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the health care workers in the management of PUD. Subjects dan Method: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study with a prospective data collection implemented at the Paul VI and the Bogodogo District Hospitals in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) from December 15, 2015 to January 25, 2016. A questionnaire was administered to 134 health care workers including medical doctors, nurses and midwives. Results: The mean age was 33 years (Mean= 33.6; SD= 5.84). Females represented 61.9%. Knowledge levels were good to excellent for general knowledge, symptoms and treatment of PUD. Depending on the agent's qualification, knowledge levels were excellent in all areas for two-thirds to three-quarters of the general practitioners, except for knowledge of additional investigation analyses, where only 47.8% had an excellent knowledge. Depending on the level of education, the level of knowledge was at least good for more than 50% of the agents except for the knowledge of additional investigation analyses where only 45.2 % of the agents of secondary school level had a good knowledge. The main attitudes consisted in managing the patients in emergency and out of an emergency context in 45.8% and 42.2% of the cases, respectively. Regarding the practices, 51.5% of the HCWs systematically requested investigation analyses before starting an aetiological therapy. Conclusion:The PUD knowledge ranks from good to excellent. However, the frequent prescription of symptomatic treatments could be the cause of many complications. The promotion of continuous medical education is a good mitigation plan to resolve the issues of knowledge and competence regarding the PUD.