TY - JOUR AU - Peters, Shantel PY - 2017/05/02 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Notifiable Disease Reporting among Physicians Practicing in Grenada JF - Online Journal of Public Health Informatics JA - OJPHI VL - 9 IS - 1 SE - Surveillance in Low Resource Income Countries DO - 10.5210/ojphi.v9i1.7779 UR - https://ojphi.org/ojs/index.php/ojphi/article/view/7779 SP - AB - <div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 284.47px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(1.08117);" data-canvas-width="56.563006734006734">Objective</div><div style="left: 93.1212px; top: 297.73px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.974982);" data-canvas-width="337.32759999999996">The study was carried out to determine physicians’ knowledge</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 312.511px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.976856);" data-canvas-width="350.8866397306395">of notifiable reporting and to identify the barriers to reporting in</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 327.292px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00099);" data-canvas-width="45.69517003367003">Grenada.</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 355.42px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(1.11744);" data-canvas-width="73.28565488215487">Introduction</div><div style="left: 93.1212px; top: 368.68px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00443);" data-canvas-width="335.78223131313126">Despite the significance of disease reporting to any health system,</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 383.461px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.981146);" data-canvas-width="348.53592037037026">Grenada like most countries struggle with underreporting of notifiable</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 398.242px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.993293);" data-canvas-width="350.94694680134666">diseases by physicians. In order to improve the national disease</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 413.023px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02681);" data-canvas-width="349.6955750841752">surveillance system in Grenada, it is critical understand the reasons</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 427.804px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.01989);" data-canvas-width="351.7271695286196">for any underreporting. The study was conducted to determine</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 442.585px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.987436);" data-canvas-width="350.53987407407425">physicians’ knowledge of notifiable reporting and to identify the</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 457.366px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00123);" data-canvas-width="103.62764983164982">barriers to reporting.</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 485.494px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(1.0727);" data-canvas-width="51.65049326599326">Methods</div><div style="left: 93.1212px; top: 498.754px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.984278);" data-canvas-width="337.7384419191918">The Grenada Medical and Dental Council identified a total of</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 513.535px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.991343);" data-canvas-width="350.85271700336693">129 registered and practicing physicians. A cross-sectional study</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 528.316px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.01266);" data-canvas-width="351.6970159932657">design was developed to obtain information from all registered</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 543.097px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.997212);" data-canvas-width="350.86905016835016">and practicing physician. The survey tool included questions on</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 557.878px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02447);" data-canvas-width="349.8890602693602">demographics; training history and medical practice details, as well</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 572.659px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02663);" data-canvas-width="349.6026016835017">as knowledge, practice and barriers to reporting notifiable diseases.</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 587.44px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02235);" data-canvas-width="349.7445745791245">The survey was administered to physicians in both paper-based and</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 602.222px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00147);" data-canvas-width="94.20467003367003">electronic formats.</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 630.349px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(1.08437);" data-canvas-width="45.38107070707071">Results</div><div style="left: 93.1212px; top: 643.609px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.983544);" data-canvas-width="335.2080577441077">To date only 13 surveys have been returned. Preliminary data show</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 658.39px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.01454);" data-canvas-width="349.4581159932659">that 61.5% of respondents rated an “average” on their knowledge of</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 673.171px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00639);" data-canvas-width="349.18547777777775">which diseases are reportable and of those only 46 % knew where to</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 687.952px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.03367);" data-canvas-width="349.6201912457912">obtain a list of notifiable diseases (NDs). Fifty three percent (53%)</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 702.733px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.990423);" data-canvas-width="350.90674208754206">of respondents said that they have reported NDs to the relevant</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 717.515px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.987052);" data-canvas-width="348.5937146464646">authorities in the past. Thirty eight percent (38.5%) believed it should</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 732.296px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.965036);" data-canvas-width="350.42051632996623">be the responsibility of nurses to report NDs and 30.8% stated it</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 747.077px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.03916);" data-canvas-width="349.91921380471365">should be the physician. The major barriers to reporting, identified</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 761.858px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.999141);" data-canvas-width="348.91660875420865">by the respondents were being too busy, too much time required, and</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 776.639px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02287);" data-canvas-width="349.7860356902356">lack of infrastructure or reporting systems. When asked about ways</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 791.42px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.991064);" data-canvas-width="348.57361228956233">to improve reporting, 38.5% identified improvements to the reporting</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 806.201px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.994824);" data-canvas-width="351.1065092592592">form, and 30.8% identified education of physicians on reporting</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 820.983px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00119);" data-canvas-width="125.96639393939397">protocol and importance.</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 849.11px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(1.10256);" data-canvas-width="75.39640235690236">Conclusions</div><div style="left: 93.1212px; top: 862.37px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.01965);" data-canvas-width="336.2960978114477">While this is still preliminary data, the majority of the physicians</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 877.151px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.979113);" data-canvas-width="350.6856161616163">surveyed had some knowledge of reporting NDs. The barriers to</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 891.932px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.03839);" data-canvas-width="350.00716161616145">reporting identified were being too busy and lack of infrastructure.</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 906.713px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.994714);" data-canvas-width="351.0512277777778">Future improvements to the reporting system in Grenada should</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 921.494px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00582);" data-canvas-width="349.11888872053856">focus on making forms electronic and less lengthy, and on educating</div><div style="left: 79.8182px; top: 936.275px; font-size: 12.564px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00092);" data-canvas-width="305.32967340067336">physicians on the importance and protocol of reporting NDs.</div> ER -