Background:
Identifying educational needs of family physicians in the field of Cardiovascular diseases improves diagnosis and treatment. Unperceived educational needs is one of the types of these needs that are always neglected. The aim of this study is investigating the unperceived educational needs of family physicians working in comprehensive health centers of Tehran province regarding CVDs.
Methods:
In an analytical cross-sectional study, 40 Physician working in 8 comprehensive health centers of Tehran province, after completing a questionnaire on the frequency of CVDs and a self-report questionnaire with the aim of assessing the skill level and the amount of training needed in CVDs fields, participated in the clinical scenario test to determine the level of knowledge in CVDs fields. All data were analyzed in spss-20 software using descriptive and inferential statistics (chi-square test).
Results:
Out of 4017 referrals due CVDs, HTN (60%) and DM (36%) were the most. In self-report, the skill level in CVDs was 59% and the amount of training needed was 90%. "Information of family Physicians " was the lowest frequency of Expressed skill level (49.4%) and was the most expressed need for education (96.67%). The frequency of the total scores of Physicians in the clinical scenario test was 41.5%. "Syncope and cardiac arrest" (60.1%) got the highest score, and "Tachycardia" (20.83%) and "cardiac conduction disorders" (25.67%) got the lowest scenario score. The frequency of scenario scores was not significantly different between urban and rural centers(P=0.07) and was lower than the self-reported skill scores (In Total P<0.05) except for the field of "syncope and cardiac arrest"(P=0.09).
Conclusion:
Despite the high prevalence of CVDs and risk factors, family Physicians working in urban and rural comprehensive health centers have unperceived educational needs in CVDs fields, and it’s necessary to design educational programs for family physicians based on these needs.