Medical students’ and health professionals’ knowledge regarding acute kidney injury: a cross-sectional study in the city of São Paulo, Brazil
Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a worldwide public health problem and is often treated by non-nephrologists. The objective of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of non-nephrologists, undergraduate medical students and health professionals regarding AKI.Methods An unsupervised and close...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Renal Failure |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/0886022X.2022.2131575 |
| Summary: | Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a worldwide public health problem and is often treated by non-nephrologists. The objective of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of non-nephrologists, undergraduate medical students and health professionals regarding AKI.Methods An unsupervised and closed-response electronic questionnaire was sent to sixth-year medical students and non-nephrologist health professionals working in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.Results A total of 424 responses were returned from 650 invitations (40.1% males, 39.2% physicians, 34.0% senior medical students or resident physicians, 16.3% nurses and 10.6% pharmacists). The knowledge of medical students and health professionals about the prevalence and lethality of AKI in hospitals ranged from 40.8% to 59.2%. The most recognized susceptibilities and risk factors for AKI were sepsis/septic shock (95.0%) and diabetes mellitus (91.3%); the less-recognized susceptibilities and risk factors were exposure to gadolinium-based contrast (23.3%) and chronic liver disease (55.7%). The study participants’ rate of knowledge regarding the diagnosis of AKI was 50.9–73.6%, and their rate of knowledge regarding the criteria of increased serum creatinine and reduced urine volume was 52.6%. The most-recognized nephrotoxic medications were vancomycin (82.3%) and diclofenac (80.4%), and the least-recognized were acyclovir (34.0%) and cotrimoxazole (30.4%). The indications for emergency renal replacement therapy that were recognized by the study respondents were metabolic acidosis (82.3%), uremic syndrome (81.6%), hyperkalemia unresponsive to clinical treatment (78.1%) and acute pulmonary edema (71.6%).Conclusion The study showed knowledge gaps that can impact patient care and can be used to guide professional training programs. |
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| ISSN: | 0886-022X 1525-6049 |