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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2018; 8(03): 104-106
DOI: 10.4103/ajm.AJM_200_17
BRIEF REPORT

Knowledge, attitude, and practices associated with the diagnosis and management of skin and soft-tissue infections among medical students, residents, and attending physicians

Norman Beatty
Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
,
Jessica Anthony August
Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
,
Joe Saenz
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
,
David E Nix
Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
,
Kathryn R Matthias
Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
,
Mayar Al Mohajer
Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
› Author Affiliations Financial support and sponsorship Nil.
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Abstract

Skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTIs) are commonly encountered by medical students, residents, and trainees. The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has updated its recommendations regarding SSTI diagnosis and management in June 2014. We assessed knowledge, attitude, and practices toward diagnosis and management of SSTIs using an online survey. We disseminated the survey to medical students, residents, and attending physicians practicing in family and internal medicine department at a university-based hospital. A total of 103 surveys were completed out of 121 sent (85.1%) between July 2015 and March 2016. There were nine medical questions in the survey. The mean of correct answers was 4.5/9 ± 2.0. Medical knowledge correlated with the level of education (P < 0.001) but not with subspecialty (P = 0.97). Around 35% were familiar with the updated IDSA guidelines pertaining to SSTIs. The majority (85%) responded that the hospital staff would benefit from additional training and 75% agreed that more antibiotic stewardship education is needed. Our study shows that there are significant opportunities for development among students and physicians who encounter SSTIs.

Keywords

Assessment - cellulitis - education - guidelines - survey


Publication History

Article published online:
12 August 2021

© 2018. Syrian American Medical Society. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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