A study of knowledge and attitude improvement on epilepsy among Thai physicians and nurses.

OBJECTIVE

To study improvement ofknowledge and attitudes on epilepsy care among two groups ofphysicians and nurses.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

Knowledge and attitudes of 164 physicians and 403 nurses before and after attending educational courses on epilepsy care was assessed using questionnaires.

RESULTS

After the courses, knowledge and attitudes of physicians and nurses was improved with statistical significance (pair-t-test: t (163) = 10.19, p < 0.001; t (402) = 18.41, p < 0.001). The most misunderstanding were incorrectfirst aid of seizure, misinterpretation of blood changes after antiepileptic drug therapy inadequate awareness of epilepsy surgery, and prohibition of swimming in people with epilepsy No differences between baseline and post training scores among physicians in neurology internal medicine, emergency medicine, and general practice were observed.

CONCLUSION

The present study is the first to objectively measure improvement of knowledge and attitudes among Thai physicians and nurses after courses about epilepsy care, reflecting importance of additional epilepsy education. Items showing misapprehension can be used to provide the educational contents.