Análise das características de formação e do conhecimento sobre doenças vestibulares de médicos no Sertão Paraibano

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The term labyrinthitis is often used to designate general dizziness. This vicious and faulty attitude, when performed by medical professionals, can result in errors in diagnosis, therapy, orientation given to the patient and prognosis. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the training characteristics and knowledge on vestibular diseases (especially labyrinthitis) of the physicians working in the hinterland of Paraiba. METHOD: The study design was crosssectional, in which the knowledge and training characteristics of physicians working in the cities of São João do Rio do Peixe, Bom Jesus, Cachoeira dos Índios, Cajazeiras, Carrapateira, Santa Helena and São José de Piranhas were evaluated by means of specific questionnaire with objective questions, directly applied. A descriptive analysis of the data was conducted and the presence of risk factors for poor performance (percentage of correct answers to the specific questions below 60%) was investigated, using logistic regression. RESULTS: Most physicians (77.1%) graduated more than five years ago. Most of them graduated in educational institutions in Paraíba or other northeastern states; however, 6.9% of participants graduated abroad. Nearly three-quarters of the respondents had postgraduation and 26.7% had attended residency program and specialization simultaneously. Most professionals (66.4%) have diagnosed more than one case of labyrinthitis in the last year and stated that disabling rotator dizziness, tinnitus and vomiting are symptoms of this pathology. Hearing acuity reduction was less related to labyrinthitis (6.1%), and the treatment more often chosen for this disease was the use of vestibular suppressant (82.4%). Most respondents replied that labyrinthitis is the most frequent cause of dizziness (32.8%), which is typically rotational, chronic and benign (48.1%). Vestibular suppressant drugs are widely prescribed and for a long time. The only risk factor for failure in the questionnaire was to have graduated after 2006 (odds ratio of 5.13 with a confidence interval 1.05 to 24.92). Knowledge of dizziness was mostly acquired during Medicine school; however 26% of respondents state that they had notions from non-scientific sources. CONCLUSIONS: Most physicians have good clinical experience, attended graduation within their working region and have done a post graduation. There is insufficient knowledge of the physicians who participated in this study in relation to vestibular disorders. The lower performance of the recently graduated calls for a reflection on how knowledge has been disseminated recently. The significant nonscientific source of information on dizziness among these professionals is a matter of concern.