Ramadan-Specific Diabetes Management – A Quasi-Experimental Study to Assess the Knowledge among Doctors

Abstract

Objective: To determine knowledge about Ramadan-specific diabetes management among Resident Doctors (RDs) working on medical floor through pre-post lecture format and to assess effectiveness of targeted educational activity. Methods: This study was conducted in Department of Medicine, King Edward Medical University, Lahore during May 2016. 82 RDs including House Officers (HOs) and Postgraduate Residents (PGRs) working on the medical floor participated in the study. A self-designed 30-item questionnaire based on American Diabetes Association guidelines for management of diabetes during Ramadan was self-administered before and after a lecture on the same topic. Pre and post-scores and improvement after session was calculated for each group of RDs. Mann-Whitney & Wilcoxin signed ranks tests were used to assess differences in pre and post scores and for improvement in knowledge. p-value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: A total of 82 RDs including 44(53.66%) HOs & 38 (46.34%) PGRs participated in the study. At baseline, mean scores were 54.1%(±14.53) for HOs & 69.12%(±12.01) for PGRs (p-value 0.000) with lowest subscores for alarming blood sugar level category for both groups. Significant increase (p-value <0.05) in
level of knowledge was seen after the lecture in both groups. HOs showed slightly higher absolute improvement than PGRs (45.05% vs 37.39% respectively). However, the relative improvement was significantly higher for PGRs (46.92%) than for HOs (36.82%) with p-value 0.028. Conclusion: Baseline knowledge of resident doctors regarding management of fasting diabetic patients is suboptimal but can be enhanced through targeted sessions. PGRs are more receptive to educational programs than their junior colleagues.