Oksana Boyarchuk1, Oksana Mochulska2, Roman Komorovsky3. 1. MD, PhD, DSc, Professor, Head of the Department of Children's Diseases and Pediatric Surgery, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, 1, Maydan Voli, Ternopil, 46001, Ukraine. 2. MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of the Department of Children's Diseases and Pediatric Surgery, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, 1, Maydan Voli, Ternopil, 46001, Ukraine. 3. MD, PhD, DSc, Associate Professor, 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, 1, Maydan Voli, Ternopil, 46001, Ukraine.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The purpose of our study was to evaluate the knowledge of pediatricians in diagnosis and management of sore throat in children and to identify further ways to raise their awareness. METHODS: We conducted a survey among pediatricians on evaluation of diagnosis and management of pharyngitis in children. The study involved pediatricians of Ternopil region, Ukraine. Overall, 112 pediatricians participated in the study. Among the participants 79 (70.5%) were primary care physicians and 33 (29.5%) worked in the secondary and tertiary care hospitals. RESULTS: Overall, 70.5% of pediatricians prescribed a throat swab for patients with pharyngitis in selected cases. However, they rarely (20 %) used Centor or McIsaak criteria to choose management strategy of sore throat. Amoxicillin as a first-line antibiotic for streptococcal pharyngitis was chosen by 66.1% of respondents and primary care pediatricians prescribed it more often than pediatricians in hospitals (p<0.001), but antibiotic therapy was prescribed for 10 days only by 52.7% of respondents. Less than half of the correct answers were to the questions related to prescription of antibacterial therapy in healthy children, in which GAS is detected in throat swab (39.3%) and in cases of positive antistreptolysin O (ASL-O - 25.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The study showed a wide range of knowledge of pediatricians about the diagnosis and management of GAS pharyngitis - from satisfactory responses concerning prescription of antibiotic therapy to low level of knowledge about the diagnosis and determination of strategies in healthy carriers. These data emphasize the need to improve knowledge about the strategies of GAS pharyngitis control. GERMS.
INTRODUCTION: The purpose of our study was to evaluate the knowledge of pediatricians in diagnosis and management of sore throat in children and to identify further ways to raise their awareness. METHODS: We conducted a survey among pediatricians on evaluation of diagnosis and management of pharyngitis in children. The study involved pediatricians of Ternopil region, Ukraine. Overall, 112 pediatricians participated in the study. Among the participants 79 (70.5%) were primary care physicians and 33 (29.5%) worked in the secondary and tertiary care hospitals. RESULTS: Overall, 70.5% of pediatricians prescribed a throat swab for patients with pharyngitis in selected cases. However, they rarely (20 %) used Centor or McIsaak criteria to choose management strategy of sore throat. Amoxicillin as a first-line antibiotic for streptococcal pharyngitis was chosen by 66.1% of respondents and primary care pediatricians prescribed it more often than pediatricians in hospitals (p<0.001), but antibiotic therapy was prescribed for 10 days only by 52.7% of respondents. Less than half of the correct answers were to the questions related to prescription of antibacterial therapy in healthy children, in which GAS is detected in throat swab (39.3%) and in cases of positive antistreptolysin O (ASL-O - 25.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The study showed a wide range of knowledge of pediatricians about the diagnosis and management of GAS pharyngitis - from satisfactory responses concerning prescription of antibiotic therapy to low level of knowledge about the diagnosis and determination of strategies in healthy carriers. These data emphasize the need to improve knowledge about the strategies of GAS pharyngitis control. GERMS.
Entities:
Keywords:
Group A streptococcus; diagnosis; pharyngitis; treatment
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