Mosalli Rafat, Aljabri Moayad K, Alsaeedi Abdullah K, Zamzami Osama, Alhothali Omar S, Almatrafi Mohammed
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, SAU.
Department of Medicine and Surgery, College of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Al-Abdia Main Campus, Makkah, SAU.
Cureus. 2023 Mar 15;15(3):e36176. doi: 10.7759/cureus.36176. eCollection 2023 Mar.
Purpose This study aims to evaluate neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) pediatricians' knowledge about retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in the major tertiary centers in Makkah and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Methods This cross-sectional study uses a self-administered electronic questionnaire completed by NICU pediatricians at the main hospitals of Makkah and Jeddah cities. Based on the participants' correctly selected responses to the validated questionnaire, a scoring system was used in the data analysis to show their level of ROP knowledge. Results Seventy-seven responses were analyzed. The male gender was 49.4%. The majority were recruited from the ministry of health hospitals (63.6%). A small proportion (28.6%) correctly identified who performs the examination. Around three-quarters of the participants have correctly stated that ROP therapy is a very good option to prevent blindness (72.7%). The treatment should generally begin within 72 hours after diagnosis of sight-threatening ROP (79.2%). The requirements for ROP screening were unknown to more than half of our participants (53.2%). With the lowest score of 4.0 and a maximum score of 17.0, the median knowledge score was 13.0 (IQR = 11.0 to 14.0). Based on pediatricians' clinical qualifications, knowledge scores varied significantly. Residents had a significantly lower knowledge score than specialists and consultants (median = 7.0, IQR = 6.0 to 9.0, p = 0.001). Additionally, pediatricians with less experience (<5 years) performed significantly lower on the knowledge score (median = 10.0, IQR = 6.2 to 12.8) than those with more experience (median = 13.0, IQR = 11.0 to 15.0) for participants with 5-10 years of experience, and (median = 13.0, IQR = 11.0 to 14.0) for participants with >10 years of experience). Conclusion Our study showed that NICU pediatricians understood ROP risk factors and treatment options. Nevertheless, they needed to understand the ROP screening inclusion criteria and when the screening could be stopped. Residents scored substantially lower in knowledge overall. Accordingly, we emphasized the need for NICU pediatricians to increase their level of awareness by having regular educational sessions and standardizing one guideline to be strictly followed.
目的 本研究旨在评估沙特阿拉伯麦加和吉达主要三级医疗中心新生儿重症监护病房（NICU）儿科医生对早产儿视网膜病变（ROP）的了解情况。方法 本横断面研究采用自行填写的电子问卷，由麦加和吉达市主要医院的NICU儿科医生完成。根据参与者对经过验证的问卷的正确回答，在数据分析中使用评分系统来显示他们的ROP知识水平。结果 共分析了77份回复。男性占49.4%。大多数人来自卫生部医院（63.6%）。一小部分人（28.6%）正确识别了进行检查的人员。大约四分之三的参与者正确指出ROP治疗是预防失明的一个非常好的选择（72.7%）。对于有视力威胁的ROP，治疗通常应在诊断后72小时内开始（79.2%）。超过一半的参与者（53.2%）不知道ROP筛查的要求。知识得分最低为4.0分，最高为17.0分，中位数知识得分为13.0分（四分位间距 = 11.0至14.0）。根据儿科医生的临床资质，知识得分有显著差异。住院医生的知识得分显著低于专科医生和顾问（中位数 = 7.0，四分位间距 = 6.0至9.0，p = 0.001）。此外，经验不足（<5年）的儿科医生在知识得分上（中位数 = 10.0，四分位间距 = 6.2至12.8）显著低于经验丰富的医生，对于有5至10年经验的参与者，经验丰富的医生中位数为13.0分（四分位间距 = 11.0至15.0），对于经验超过10年的参与者，中位数为13.0分（四分位间距 = 11.0至14.0）。结论 我们的研究表明，NICU儿科医生了解ROP的危险因素和治疗选择。然而，他们需要了解ROP筛查的纳入标准以及何时可以停止筛查。总体而言，住院医生的知识得分显著较低。因此，我们强调NICU儿科医生需要通过定期开展教育课程并规范严格遵循的单一指南来提高他们的认识水平。
