DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i07.067

Pages: 2863-2872

Diabetes is a global health burden and diabetic ocular complications are among common causes of blindness. Prevalence of diabetic retinopathy is 21.7% among diabetics in India. (11) Early diagnosis and prompt treatment can prevent blinding complications of diabetes. Limitation to this approach is improper access to ophthalmologist. Thus it is imperative that primary health care providers should aware of the diabetic complications and referral guidelines. Intern doctors are the integral part of health care system. They are the future family physicians, resident doctors and consultants so can be the most proficient health care providers to screen diabetic ocular complications within community. Total 103 interns completed the survey conducted for diabetic ocular complications among intern doctors. After obtaining consent, basic data recorded and response checked to 20-point questionnaire. 5 marks were given for correct answer while 0 for wrong answer. Data collected was entered and managed in excel sheet and analysis conducted. Average scores was 24.76/40 for knowledge, 20.19/35 for attitude, 11.03/15 for practice with 57.82/90 total KAP score. There was moderate level of knowledge but most of interns not aware about the proper referral guideline, blinding complications and treatment options of diabetic retinopathy. Attitude regarding effect of education on diabetic ocular complications was reasonable. Referral practices also improper, most of interns declined to refer every diabetic patients for screening. Despite the moderate level of knowledge, there were existing gaps and misconceptions concerning referral guidelines, role of blood sugar and visual compromise however attitude towards disease burden and role of education is reasonable. The moderate knowledge and average attitude translate into poor practice. So it appears necessary to evaluate the training programme of intern doctors and medical students to improve the KAP regarding diabetic ocular complications fo