Mangalbare Hospital, Morang, Nepal.
Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences (NAIHS), Shree Birendra Hospital, Chhauni, Kathmandu, Nepal.
PLoS One. 2020 Nov 23;15(11):e0242658. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242658. eCollection 2020.
Hepatitis B imposes a major public health problem with an increased risk of occupational exposure among unvaccinated health care workers. This study was conducted to determine the Hepatitis B vaccination status, along with the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding Hepatitis B, among preclinical medical students of a medical college in Nepal.
This descriptive study was conducted among preclinical students of a medical college in Kathmandu, Nepal from 6th July to 14th July 2020. The whole sampling technique was used. Data were collected using a pretested, self-administered questionnaire which was emailed to individuals and analyzed with the statistical package for social sciences version-22.
A total of 181 students participated in the study out of 198, giving a response rate of 91.4%. Among the study participants, only 67 (37%) were fully vaccinated against Hepatitis B while 71 (39.2%) were never vaccinated. For the majority (74.6%) of the non-vaccinated participants, the main reason for not getting vaccination was a lack of vaccination programs. Half the study participants (n = 92, 50.8%) had good knowledge, attitude and practice regarding hepatitis B. The median knowledge, attitude and practice scores towards Hepatitis B were 61.00 (57.00-66.00), 20(18.00-21.00) and 21(19.00-23.00) respectively.
The majority of preclinical medical students were not fully vaccinated against Hepatitis B and only half of them had acceptable knowledge, attitude and practice towards Hepatitis B, which makes them vulnerable to the infection. This might represent the situation of not only Nepal, but also all South Asian countries, and creates concern about whether students take the vaccination programs seriously. Since unavailability of vaccination program is the main cause of non-vaccination, we strongly recommend the provision of the Hepatitis B vaccination program to the preclinical medical students.
乙型肝炎给未接种疫苗的医护人员带来了职业暴露风险的增加，这是一个重大的公共卫生问题。本研究旨在确定尼泊尔一所医学院临床医学专业学生的乙型肝炎疫苗接种状况，以及他们对乙型肝炎的知识、态度和实践。
本描述性研究于 2020 年 7 月 6 日至 14 日在尼泊尔加德满都的一所医学院的临床医学专业学生中进行。采用整群抽样技术。使用预先测试的自我管理问卷收集数据，该问卷通过电子邮件发送给个人，并使用社会科学统计软件包版本 22 进行分析。
共有 198 名学生参加了这项研究，其中 181 名学生做出了回应，回应率为 91.4%。在研究参与者中，只有 67 人（37%）完全接种了乙型肝炎疫苗，而 71 人（39.2%）从未接种过。对于大多数（74.6%）未接种疫苗的参与者来说，不接种疫苗的主要原因是缺乏疫苗接种计划。一半的研究参与者（n=92，50.8%）对乙型肝炎有良好的知识、态度和实践。他们对乙型肝炎的知识、态度和实践得分中位数分别为 61.00（57.00-66.00）、20（18.00-21.00）和 21（19.00-23.00）。
大多数临床医学专业的学生没有完全接种乙型肝炎疫苗，只有一半的学生对乙型肝炎有可接受的知识、态度和实践，这使他们容易感染乙型肝炎。这可能不仅代表尼泊尔的情况，也代表所有南亚国家的情况，并让人担忧学生是否认真对待疫苗接种计划。由于疫苗接种计划的不可用是未接种疫苗的主要原因，我们强烈建议为临床医学专业的学生提供乙型肝炎疫苗接种计划。
