Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Glokom Katarakt, cilt.18, sa.2, ss.75-82, 2023 (Hakemli Dergi)
Purpose: Eye diseases during childhood may result in serious morbidities like visual impairment and blindness. Therefore, pediatricians’ knowledge of childhood eye disorders is crucial for the prevention of irreversible outcomes. This study aims to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of Turkish pediatricians regarding childhood eye diseases. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted to evaluate the KAPs of pediatricians about eye disorders. The survey included 56 questions consisting of four sections as follows; socio-demographic findings, knowledge, practice, and attitude of pediatricians, respectively. The open online survey was sent to the participants via a WhatsApp link by mobile smartphones and their responses were entered into SPSS version 20.0 software for analysis. Results: A total of 362 pediatricians participated in the study. The knowledge levels of 262 responders (72.4%) were categorized as poor, 89 (26.5%) were moderate and 4 (1.1%) were good. Practices of the pediatricians about treatment and referral of eye diseases in children were moderate. The pupillary response was the most commonly performed test. Although their attitudes were positive, their practice was inadequate owing to barriers such as inadequate training, and unavailability of ophthalmic equipment. Conclusion: This study indicated that most of the pediatricians were interested in improving both their knowledge and their practice in diagnosing and management of ophthalmic problems. The knowledge of pediatricians about eye disease may be strengthened by correct collaborations with an ophthalmologist and improving the pediatric curriculum regarding ophthalmological diseases may be beneficial.