Physicians' Knowledge and Practices Regarding Asthma in Jordan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objectives: Asthma is a chronic non-communicable disease that causes significant morbidity and mortality and requires ongoing clinical care. Appropriate knowledge by physicians is vital in the management of asthma. Therefore, this study aims to explore and identify the gaps in physicians' knowledge and practices concerning the management of asthma.Methods: A cross-sectional study using an online survey was conducted in Jordan to understand the gap in knowledge and practices in the management of asthma among physicians. A previously validated questionnaire was employed, the Physicians' Practice Assessment Questionnaire (PPAQ). The knowledge questions based on the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines were used to assess knowledge and practice among the study's participants. Predictors of good practice were identified using logistic regression.Results: A total of 271 physicians participated in this survey. The overall knowledge among physicians scored above 78%. However, gaps were pertinent to identifying the signs of asthma attacks that accounted for 61.9% of the participants, whereas only 67.6% of the physicians knew the drugs used for the management of asthma. The study revealed alarming results when practices were assessed, with the overall percentage of physicians applying the required practices did not exceed 57.1 ± 25.7%. Logistic regression analysis to determine predictors of good practice showed that out of several independent variables, physicians who see 6–10 asthma patients per day are five times more likely to follow the guidelines' recommendations in their practice; senior physicians (>50 years old) and those who see 1–5 asthma patients daily are around two times more likely to follow the guidelines (p 0.001).Conclusions: The findings of this study identified the need to transform knowledge into practice. This could be achieved through professional education and constant reminders to physicians in a simple form, as well as a clinical audit of practice. There is a need for novel knowledge transfer approaches to induce behavioral and practice change toward the management of asthma.

Novel Fluticasone Propionate and Salmeterol Fixed-Dose Combination Nano-Encapsulated Particles Using Polyamide Based on L-Lysine

“…The results showed that the ICS/LABA combination reduced asthma exacerbations compared to ICS alone [ 6 ]. Furthermore, asthma is one of the main non-communicable diseases, with a global prevalence exceeding 339 million people and is most commonly prevalent among children [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. According to the WHO, annual asthma-associated worldwide deaths exceeded 400,000 [ 8 , 9 ].…”

Physicians’ Knowledge and Practices Regarding Asthma: A Cross-Sectional Study in Saudi Arabia

“… 23 Previous studies reported a good knowledge of physicians about the characteristics of asthma, this was also in line with the results reported in our study as it showed that around 70% of the study sample had a good knowledge about asthma characteristics. 21 , 23 …”

“…These results are lower than those reported in previous studies in Jordan and southwest Nigeria. 21 , 23 Investigating the risk factors of asthma can be challenging, and in many cases patients are likely to be referred to specialised doctors and this could be the reason for the low percentage about the knowledge of asthma triggers, especially knowing that only 30% of the study sample were pulmonologists, while the majority of the study participants were from different specialities.…”

“…Previous studies in Jordan and Russia and Ukraine reported higher percentage of knowledge of physicians about the diagnostic tests and treatment of asthma. 21 , 27 …”

“…The Arabic version of a previously developed 10-items questionnaire by Adeniyi et al was used to assess the knowledge about asthma among the participating physicians. 23 , 24 Knowledge questions were utilized using yes/no format (where yes indicates the right answer). Question numbers 1, 3, and 4 were negatively worded; therefore, when we calculate the percentage of participants who answered these items correctly, we subtract this percentage from 100%.…”