Outcome of focused training on tuberculosis and air-borne infection control for third-year undergraduate medical students

Milind Ubale; Sunita Ubale; Aniruddha Arjun Malgaonkar; Sundaram Kartikeyan

doi:10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20164209

Authors

Milind Ubale Department of Microbiology,Rajiv Gandhi Medical College, Kalwa, Thane -400605, Maharashtra, India
Sunita Ubale Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,Rajiv Gandhi Medical College, Kalwa, Thane -400605, Maharashtra, India
Aniruddha Arjun Malgaonkar Department of Community Medicine, Rajiv Gandhi Medical College, Kalwa, Thane -400605, Maharashtra, India
Sundaram Kartikeyan Department of Community Medicine, Rajiv Gandhi Medical College, Kalwa, Thane -400605, Maharashtra, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20164209

Keywords:

Air-borne infection control, Tuberculosis, Training

Abstract

Background: Though health care personnel are at particularly high risk of contracting air-borne infections, including tuberculosis, the current undergraduate health science curriculum does not have a course devoted to training on airborne infection control and universal biosafety precautions in the pre-clinical stage.

Methods: This before-and-after type of educational interventional study (without controls) was conducted on third-year medical students (n=55) in state of Maharashtra, Western India. After completing curriculum-based traditional didactic lectures on tuberculosis and air-borne infection control, a pre-test was conducted. After focused training on tuberculosis and air-borne infection control the post-test was administered. The outcome studied was the difference in cognitive domain scores after attending traditional didactic lectures (by a pre-test) and focused training (by a post-test).

Results: The differences between correct responses in pre-and post-tests were statistically significant in 12 out of 15 questions with an overall increase in median correct responses in the post-test with increase in minimum and first quartile.

Conclusions: The study results reflect the superiority of focused training using videos and practical demonstration over traditional didactic lectures. This study highlights the focus areas in teaching infection control measures and the importance of focused training in the curriculum for undergraduate medical students. It is necessary to review the curriculum so that knowledge on infection prevention and control is imparted during the pre-clinical first year before medical students enter clinical settings.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Martin PMV, Martin-Granel E. 2,500-year evolution of the term epidemic. Emerg Infect Dis. 2006;12:976-80.

Fiegel J, Clarke R, Edwards DA. Airborne infectious disease and the suppression of pulmonary bioaerosols. Drug Discov Today. 2006;11(1-2):51-7.

Blachere FM, Lindsley WG, Pearce TA, Anderson SE, Fisher M, Khakoo R, et al. Measurement of airborne influenza virus in a hospital emergency department. Clin Infect Dis. 2009;48(4):438-40.

Joshi R, Reingold A, Menzies D, Pai M. Tuberculosis among healthcare workers in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review. PLoS Med. 2006;3(12):e494.

Menzies D, Joshi R, Pai M. Risk of tuberculosis infection and disease associated with work in health care settings. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2007;11(6):593-605.

Shrivastava SR, Shrivastava PS, Ramasamy J. Air borne infection control in healthcare settings. Infect Ecol Epidemiol. 2013;3:21411.

Directorate General of Health Services. Guidelines on airborne infection control in healthcare and other settings. New Delhi: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. 2010:18-44.

Parashar A, Mazta SR, Thakur A, Sharma D, Kumar S. Impact of training package on medical students' awareness to manage a case of Influenza A (H1N1). Community Acquir Infect. 2015;2(1):16-8.

van der Westhuizen H, Kotze JCB, Narotam H , von Delft A, B Willems, Dramowski A. Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding TB infection control among health science students in a TB-endemic setting. Int J Infect Control. 2015;v11:i4.

Amin TT, Al Noaim KI, Bu Saad MA, Al Malhm TA, Al Mulhim AA, Al Awas MA. Standard precautions and infection control, medical students’ knowledge and behavior at a Saudi University: The need for change. Glob J Health Sci. 2013;5(4):114-25.

Zhao Y, Ehiri J, Li D, Luo X. Li Y. A survey of TB knowledge among medical students in Southwest China: Is the information reaching the target? BMJ Open. 2013;3:e003454.

Singh A, Purohit BM, Bhambal A, Saxena S, Singh A, Gupta A. Knowledge, attitudes, and practice regarding infection control measures among dental students in Central India. J Dent Educ. 2011;75(3):421-7.

Ojulong J, Mitonga KH, Iipinge SN. Knowledge and attitudes of infection prevention and control among health sciences students at University of Namibia. Afr Health Sci. 2013;13(4):1071-8.

Subramaniam T, Loo RCN, Poovaneswaran S. The practice of PPE amongst fourth year medical students at A&E. Where are we? IeJSME 2013;7(2):29-32.