A study of knowledge and attitude improvement on epilepsy among Thai physicians and nurses.

OBJECTIVE: To study improvement ofknowledge and attitudes on epilepsy care among two groups ofphysicians and nurses. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Knowledge and attitudes of 164 physicians and 403 nurses before and after attending educational courses on epilepsy care was assessed using questionnaires. RESULTS: After the courses, knowledge and attitudes of physicians and nurses was improved with statistical significance (pair-t-test: t (163) = 10.19, p < 0.001; t (402) = 18.41, p < 0.001). The most misunderstanding were incorrectfirst aid of seizure, misinterpretation of blood changes after antiepileptic drug therapy inadequate awareness of epilepsy surgery, and prohibition of swimming in people with epilepsy No differences between baseline and post training scores among physicians in neurology internal medicine, emergency medicine, and general practice were observed. CONCLUSION: The present study is the first to objectively measure improvement of knowledge and attitudes among Thai physicians and nurses after courses about epilepsy care, reflecting importance of additional epilepsy education. Items showing misapprehension can be used to provide the educational contents.

Genotypic distribution of human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cytology findings in 5906 Thai women undergoing cervical cancer screening programs.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in Thai women. Nevertheless, the preventive strategy such as HPV vaccination program has not been implemented at the national level. This study explored the HPV prevalence and genotypic distribution in a large cohort of Thai women. METHODS: A hospital-based cervical cancer screening program at Chulabhorn Hospital, Bangkok and a population-based screening program at a rural Pathum Thani Province were conducted using liquid-based cytology and HPV genotyping. RESULTS: Of 5906 women aged 20-70 years, Pap smear was abnormal in 4.9% and the overall HPV prevalence was 15.1%, with 6.4% high-risk (HR), 3.5% probable high-risk (PR), and 8.4% low-risk (LR) HPV. The prevalence and genotypic distribution were not significantly different between the two cohorts. Among HR-HPV genotypes, HPV52 was the most frequent (1.6%), followed by HPV16 (1.4%), HPV51 (0.9%), HPV58 (0.8%), HPV18 (0.6%), and HPV39 (0.6%). Among LR-HPV genotypes, HPV72 and HPV62 were the most frequent while HPV6 and HPV11 were rare. HPV infection was found to be proportionately high in young women, aged 20-30 years (25%) and decreasing with age (11% in women aged >50). The more severe abnormal cytology results, the higher positivity of HR-HPV infection was observed. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, HPV52, HPV16, and HPV51 were identified as the most common HR-HPV genotypes in Thai women. This study contributes genotypic evidence that should be essential for the development of appropriate HPV vaccination program as part of Thailand's cervical cancer prevention strategies.