Akalın, Şerife Pamukkale Üniversitesi - Tıp Fakültesi - Enfeksiyon Hastalıkları ve Klinik Mikrobiyoloji, Turkey , Ertaş, Murat Pamukkale Üniversitesi - Tıp Fakültesi - Özel Çalışma Modülü Programı, Turkey , Varkal, Emrullah Pamukkale Üniversitesi - Tıp Fakültesi - Özel Çalışma Modülü Programı, Turkey , Sadık, Arif Said Pamukkale Üniversitesi - Tıp Fakültesi - Özel Çalışma Modülü Programı, Turkey

Family physicians’ approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis in Denizli city center

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Purpose: Tuberculosis continues to pose a major global health problem, causing an estimated 8.6 million new cases and 1.3 million deaths in 2012. This survey was performed to evaluate family physicians’ approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis. Materials and methods: In the present study, a prepared questionnaire on tuberculosis was filled out by 67 family physicians in Denizli. Results: The mean age was 44.6±5.5 years. Bacteriology was the preferred method of diagnosis among 50.7% (n=34) of the physicians. For treatment of newly diagnosed tuberculosis, 52.2% prescribed a four-drug combination. The combination most often selected was Isoniazid Trimprint Etambutol (HRE) (34.3%). The accepted combination therapy used to treat relapse pulmonary tuberculosis cases was HRE + Prazinamide + Streptomycine (HREPS) (46.3%). Preferred treatment durations were 6 (25.4%) months. Cough was accepted as the first symptom for pulmonary tuberculosis, and 22.9% of the respondents answered correctly. About seventy-two percent of the doctors recognized that sending a patient to a center with specialized diagnostic capabilities as the correct strategy for treating suspicious patients negative for bacteriology. The ratio of doctors who answered that an intermittent regime was as effective as a daily standard regime was 13.4%. Conclusion: The results showed that most of the doctors had insufficient knowledge about the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis. Additional educational programmes conducted for tuberculosis control may help to standardize and increase the knowledge of tuberculosis.

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Family physician , knowledge , diagnosis , treatment , tuberculosis.

Pamukkale Medical Journal

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