Measuring the primary care physician's knowledge about diagnosis and

Abstract

Objective: Cow's milk allergy is the most common form within the food allergy its prevalence increased recent years in children. In this study, we aim to determine the primary care physician's knowledge about diagnosis of cow's milk allergy, treatment and adrenaline auto injector usage.

Materials and Methods: One hundred twenty-six voluntary primary care physicians who are working in Malatya city were included in the study. Interview with each participant were carried out and cow's milk allergy form which was prepared previously was filled in.

Results: The median age was 42 (26-62), median length of professional experience was 16 (2-39) years and 89 (70.6%) of participant were male gender. The mean examined patient number by primary care physicians was 37.4 (+/- 14.6) for each day and the mean examined patient number whose age was under 3 years was 8.5 (+/- 4.5). Of the 25.4 percent of primary care physicians did not have knowledge about skin prick test, serum specific Ig E level and/or oral challenge test for diagnosis of cow's milk allergy. Although 73% of participant knew the elimination milk and dietary product from infant who was considered to have allergy to cow's milk and mother, only 13.5% of them knew the prescribe hypoallergenic formula for infant with cow's milk allergy. 64.3% of participant knew the prescribe the adrenaline auto injector in case of anaphylaxis due to cow's milk. Knowledge of adrenaline auto injector use, appropriate side for injection and dose were 34%, 34.1% and 30.2%, respectively. There was no significant effect of primary care physicians's age and length of professional experiences on the knowledge of cow's milk allergy and adrenaline autoinjector usage.

Conclusion: The knowledge of primary care physician about diagnosis of cow's milk allergy, treatment and adrenaline auto injector usage are insufficient. Therefore it should be useful to training programs about these topics for primary care physician.

C1 [Topal, Erdem; Catal, Ferhat; Ozdemir, Ramazan; Karadag, Ahmet; Yildirim, Nurdan; Ermistekin, Halime; Sinanoglu, M. Selcuk; Kecioren, Gokhan; Karakoc, Habib T.] Inonu Univ, Fac Med, Turgut Ozal Med Ctr, Dept Childrens Hlth & Dis,Div Pediat Allergy & As, Malatya, Turkey.