COMPARISON OF AWARENESS ABOUT NEPHROLOGY AND KIDNEY DISEASES AMONGST DOCTORS: IN ISTITUTES WITH AND WITHOUT NEPHROLOGY DEPARTMENTS.

Objective: To compare the awareness about nephrology and kidney diseases in medical officers and postgraduate trainee doctors working in institutes with and without nephrology departments.

Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at Nephrology Department, Shalamar Hospital Lahore from 1st Jan to 31st Mar 2013. Doctors working on medical floor with more than one year experience after house job were included in the study. Each doctor was given questionnaire comprising of 28 questions.

Results: Two hundred and eleven doctors fulfilling the criteria were included in the study. Most of the doctors were male 150(71.1%). Knowledge had strong correlation with practice (p= 0.001). Knowledge regarding nephrology and chronic kidney disease (CKD) was found significantly different among doctors of different hospitals [(F=36.09, p=0.000). Practice regarding nephrology and chronic kidney disease (CKD) was found significantly different (F= 7.222, p=0.000)] among doctors of different hospitals of Lahore. Doctors working in the Shaikh Zayed Hospital (SZH), Lahore were having maximum score in the components of the knowledge and practice than other hospitals.

Conclusion: Awareness of the Medical Officers and postgraduate doctors is poor regarding nephrology and kidney diseases. Doctors working in institutes with established nephrology services have better knowledge than other units. Working experience of doctors improve the practice significantly.