Knowledge and practices of health practitioners toward pulmonary tuberculosis in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Appropriate TB knowledge and good practice attitudes are substantial particularly among health care personnel because of great occupational risks during their daily activities. Therefore, TB prevention and control have become an important issue on training courses. This study mainly aimed to assess the level knowledge and practices of health practitioners toward pulmonary tuberculosis in Saudi Arabia. In addition we aim to assess the perception of health practitioners toward the role of CXR. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional online questionnaire-based study conducted in Al-imam medical clinics Saudi Arabia during 2022. Results: A total of 95 participants responded to our survey. Almost two thirds of the sample were general practitioners (n = 67, 70.5%). A total of 27 physicians (28.4%) reported seeing a positive result of pulmonary tuberculosis and 43 participants (45.3%) agreed on doing CXR with/without Microbiologic testing to investigate a suspected pulmonary TB patient. Almost half of the participants (n = 47, 49.5%) reported referring to isolation as the next step for positive cases. Conclusion: Generally speaking, there was a good understanding of TB and clinical knowledge among medical students and physicians which is particularly important for early detection, management and protective measures. Our results showed moderate knowledge regarding TB investigations and excellent knowledge in terms of dealing with positive or suspected cases. Key words: pulmonary tuberculosis, health practitioners, Saudi Arabia