Al-Dahshan Ayman, Selim Nagah, Al-Kubaisi Noora, Mahfoud Ziyad, Kehyayan Vahe
Department of Medical Education, Community Medicine Residency Program, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Cairo University Kasr Alainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo, Egypt.
Prev Med Rep. 2023 Jul 22;35:102337. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102337. eCollection 2023 Oct.
In an era of globalization, travel-related illnesses have become a focus of public health concern. Pretravel consultation is an effective measure to promote healthy travel. This study aimed to assess the scope of primary care physicians' (PCPs) practice of travel medicine (TM) in Qatar and its associated predictors. This was a cross-sectional study design. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from all PCPs working in the 27 primary healthcare centers in Qatar. Descriptive and analytic statistics were used as appropriate, and a multivariable logistic regression model was constructed. Three hundred sixty-four PCPs participated in the study (response rate of 89.2%). Most PCPs (91.1%) provided pretravel consultations of which 72.7% provided less than 10 consultations per month. Overall, pretravel advice content and frequency including vaccine and malaria chemoprophylaxis recommendations were inadequate. Significant predictors of high frequency of pretravel consultations (≥10/month) included male PCPs (AOR 1.78, 95% CI: 1.01, 3.18), PCPs who had postgraduate training or experience in TM (AOR 2.74, 95% CI: 1.59, 4.72), and multilingual (speaking ≥3 languages) physicians (AOR 1.96, 95% CI: 1.12, 3.45). Frequently encountered post-travel illnesses included travelers' diarrhea, respiratory diseases, and fever. While, most PCPs provided pretravel consultations, the frequency and content of consultations were inadequate. Male PCPs, past training or experience in TM, and multilingual physicians were important predictors of providing a high frequency of pretravel consultation. The findings of this study identified several gaps in PCPs' TM practice. Specific measures should be designed and implemented to reduce the burden of travel-related illnesses and promote healthy travel.
在全球化时代，与旅行相关的疾病已成为公共卫生关注的焦点。旅行前咨询是促进健康旅行的一项有效措施。本研究旨在评估卡塔尔初级保健医生（PCP）开展旅行医学（TM）实践的范围及其相关预测因素。这是一项横断面研究设计。采用结构化问卷从卡塔尔27个初级保健中心工作的所有PCP收集数据。酌情使用描述性和分析性统计方法，并构建多变量逻辑回归模型。364名PCP参与了该研究（应答率为89.2%）。大多数PCP（91.1%）提供旅行前咨询，其中72.7%每月提供的咨询少于10次。总体而言，旅行前建议的内容和频率，包括疫苗和疟疾化学预防建议，都不充分。旅行前咨询高频（≥10次/月）的显著预测因素包括男性PCP（调整后比值比[AOR]1.78，95%置信区间[CI]：1.01，3.18）、接受过TM研究生培训或有TM经验的PCP（AOR 2.74，95%CI：1.59，4.72）以及会说多种语言（会说≥3种语言）的医生（AOR 1.96，95%CI：1.12，3.45）。常见的旅行后疾病包括旅行者腹泻、呼吸道疾病和发热。虽然大多数PCP提供旅行前咨询，但咨询的频率和内容都不充分。男性PCP、过去接受过TM培训或有TM经验以及会说多种语言的医生是提供高频旅行前咨询的重要预测因素。本研究结果确定了PCP在TM实践中的几个差距。应设计并实施具体措施，以减轻与旅行相关疾病的负担并促进健康旅行。
