%0 Journal Article
%T Specialist physician knowledge of chronic kidney disease: A comparison of internists and family physicians in West Africa
%A Emmanuel I. Agaba
%A Patricia A. Agaba
%A Musa Dankyau
%A Maxwell O. Akanbi
%J African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine
%D 2012
%I 
%X Background: Postgraduate training is aimed at equipping the trainee with the necessary skills to practise as an expert. Non-nephrology specialist physicians render the bulk of pre-end-stage renal disease care for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We sought to ascertain the knowledge of CKD amongst non-nephrology specialist physicians who serve as trainers and examiners for a training, accrediting and certifying body in postgraduate medicine in West Africa. We also compared the knowledge of family physicians and non-nephrology internists.Methods: Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to non-nephrology specialist physicians who serve as examiners for the West African College of Physicians.Results: Only 19 (27.5%) of the respondents were aware of the Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiatives guidelines for CKD management. Twenty five (36.2%) of the respondents had adequate knowledge of CKD. There was no significant difference in the proportion of family physicians and non-nephrology internists who had adequate knowledge of CKD (27.3% vs. 40.4% respectively; p = 0.28). Hypertension and diabetes mellitus were identified by all of the physicians as risk factors for CKD. Non-nephrology internists more frequently identified systemic lupus erythematosus as a risk factor for CKD, urinalysis with microscopy as a laboratory test for CKD evaluation, and bone disease as a complication of CKD than family physicians.Conclusion: There is a lack of adequate CKD knowledge amongst non-nephrology specialist physicians, since many of them are unaware of the CKD management guidelines. Educational efforts are needed to improve the knowledge of CKD amongst non-nephrology specialist physicians. Guidelines on CKD need to be widely disseminated amongst these physicians.Connaissances des sp¨¦cialistes des maladies r¨¦nales chroniques : Une comparaison des internistes et des m¨¦decins de famille en Afrique de l¡¯OuestContexte: La formation de troisi¨¨me cycle vise ¨¤ donner ¨¤ l¡¯¨¦tudiant les comp¨¦tences n¨¦cessaires pour exercer en tant qu¡¯expert. Les sp¨¦cialistes hors n¨¦phrologie r¨¦alisent le gros de la prise en charge des maladies r¨¦nales en phase terminale pour les patients atteints de maladie r¨¦nale chronique (MRC). Nous avons cherch¨¦ ¨¤ d¨¦terminer les connaissances sur la MRC chez les sp¨¦cialistes hors n¨¦phrologie qui sont formateurs et examinateurs pour une structure de formation, d¡¯accr¨¦ditation et de certification en m¨¦decine de troisi¨¨me cycle en Afrique de l¡¯Ouest. Nous avons ¨¦galement compar¨¦ les connaissances des m¨¦decins de famille et des internistes hors
%K Chronic kidney disease
%K family physicians
%K internal medicine specialists
%K West Africa
%U http://www.phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/319/384