Investigation on the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Oral Health among Medical College and University Undergraduate

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the status of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of oral health among medical undergraduate students, and provide reference for implementing oral health interventions. Methods: A total of 528 undergraduate students enrolled in Fuzhou Medical College from February 2023 to September 2023 were selected as the research subjects. Their oral health KAP were investigated, and the oral health behavior habits of different types of medical students were compared, and possible influencing factors were analyzed. Results: The total awareness rate of oral health knowledge among medical students is 77.0%, with an average score of 3.85 ± 1.16 points. The overall positive rate of oral health attitudes among medical students is 80.0%, with an average score of 3.19 ± 0.72 points. The total qualified rate of oral health behavior is 65.9%, with an average score of 4.61 ± 1.23 points. The scores of oral health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among medical students are related to gender, major, smoking status, and oral health status. The frequency of brushing teeth in the female group was higher than that in the male group, while the habit of brushing teeth before bedtime and the frequency of timely replacement of toothbrushes when deformed were lower, with statistical significance (p 0.05). The frequency of timely replacement of toothbrushes varies among medical students from different majors, and the difference is statistically significant (p 0.05). People who have a habit of eating hot and cold food have a higher frequency of brushing their teeth every day, and the difference is statistically significant (p 0.05). Non smokers have a better habit of brushing their teeth before bedtime and a higher frequency of timely replacement when their toothbrush deforms, with a statistically significant difference (p 0.05). The frequency of using fluoride toothpaste or medicated toothpaste, having a habit of unilateral chewing, and timely replacement of toothbrushes when deformed in patients with existing oral problems is higher than that of those without oral problems, and the difference is statistically significant (p 0.05). Conclusion: The knowledge, attitude, and behavior of oral health among medical students in this school are above average. Students with different genders, dietary and smoking habits, and oral health status have different oral health behavioral habits. It is recommended to include oral health education in mandatory courses for various medical majors.

Knowledge of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) among Medical Students in a Tertiary Hospital in Jos North Local Government Area, Plateau State, Nigeria

Background: Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) remain a common cause of death, functional disability, emotional suffering and economic burden among hospitalized patients. Knowledge of HAIs is important in its prevention and control. This study seeks to assess the knowledge of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) among medical students in a Tertiary Hospital in Jos North Local Government Area, Plateau State, Nigeria. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study done in October 2019 among clinical medical students using a Multistage sampling technique. Data was collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire and analyzed using the IBM SPSS 20 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Ethical approval was granted by Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Ethics Committee, Jos, Plateau State. Results: A total of 219 students in the clinical arm of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences were selected. A higher proportion (97.7%) of respondents knew about Hospital Acquired Infections and 85.4% knew that Hospital Acquired infections occur in the hospital, and (86.3%) considered patients contagious with half (58.9%) considered patients as the most important source of HAIs, followed by care givers (13.2%), then doctors including medical students and interns (10.0%) and lastly nurses (8.7%). The majority of respondents (70.8%) considered Surgical Wound Infections to be the most commonly occurring HAI, followed by UTIs (69.9%), RTIs (61.2%), BSIs (37.0%) and others (0.9%). The clinical thermometer was the instrument that most commonly transmits HAIs (82.6%), then followed by stethoscope (62.1%), white coats (53.9%), and blood pressure cuff (51.1%). Most respondents knew the infectious substances, like blood (96.3%), nasal discharge (82.6%), saliva (85.3%), and faeces (79.4%) transmitted HAIs, 72.6% of the respondents said that they were aware of the recommended hand washing techniques by WHO. Conclusion: The majority of students 91.3% had good knowledge while 8.7% had poor knowledge of HAIs. Lower classes had more respondents with poor knowledge. This finding was statistically significant (p = 0.002, Chi-square 12.819). Students are encouraged to keep up the level of knowledge they have about HAIs. These students can help improve the knowledge of those whose knowledge level is low. Government and NGOs should support sponsorship for capacity-building events targeted at HAIs for healthcare workers and medical students.

Evaluation of Medical Prescribers’ Theoretical Knowledge on Medical Imaging in the Northern Region of Burkina Faso

Introduction: Medical imaging is a medical specialty that involves producing images of the human body and interpreting them for diagnostic, therapeutic purposes, and for monitoring the progress of pathologies. We aimed to assess the theoretical knowledge of doctors and interns in medical imaging in the northern region of Burkina Faso. Methodology: This was a descriptive cross-sectional survey based on a self-administered questionnaire. Prescribers knowledge was estimated based on scores derived from questionnaire responses. Results: We collected 106 questionnaires out of 163, i.e. a participation rate of 65.03%. The average knowledge score was 81.71% for the contribution of medical imaging to patient management. It was 60.02% for the indications/counter-indications of radiological examinations and 72.56% for the risks associated with exposure to radiation during these examinations. The score was 59.83% for the methods used to select the appropriate radiological examination. As regards the completeness of the clinical and biological information on the forms requesting imaging examinations, the score was 96.65%. Specialist doctors had the highest overall level of knowledge (74.68%). Conclusion: Improved technical facilities, good initial and in-service training, and interdisciplinary collaboration will help to ensure that imaging tests are properly prescribed, leading to better patient care.

Knowledge towards Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation among Training Doctors and Medical Students at the Mohammed VI University Hospital of Marrakech

The aim of our study is to evaluate the knowledge regarding physical medicine and rehabilitation among physicians in training and medical students at the Mohammed VI University Hospital in Marrakech, to approach the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of doctors regarding physical medicine and rehabilitation and evaluate the knowledge in theoretical training related to PRM among the students. We conducted a monocentric cross-sectional analytical study, using a web-based anonymous survey, carried out among 558 undergraduate student and training doctors, randomly selected in the form of a survey on the knowledge towards Physical Medicine and rehabilitation. We received 558 survey duly completed by students of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Marrakech (62.4%) and training doctors (37.6%). The mean age of the participants was 24.53 ± 3.9 years, with extremes ranging from 17 to 39 years. 52.7% of the participants were from the former educational reform, The predominance of participation was remarkable among pediatricians 23%, The population who knew PRM was the majority (79.3%), 40.7% of the participants were unaware of the availability of a PRM department at Mohamed VI University Hospital, 0.5% of all training doctors and medical students questioned strongly agreed with the sufficiency of their training in disability management were belonging to the new reform, 84.1% of participants had never attended or referred a patient to the PRM department. 23.2% of training doctors affirmed the referral of patients to PRM for further management. Despite the essential role of PRM in the management of diseases, it remains little known by training doctors and medical students. This lack of knowledge of PRM reflects the lack of the undergraduate and postgraduate of the medical education in the field of rehabilitation.

A cross-sectional study to assess medication safety,knowledge,attitude,and practices regarding nutrition and medication among pregnant women

Objective:To assess pregnant women's knowledge,attitude,and practice regarding nutrition and medication usage,analyse the prescribing pattern,and categorize them based on the Food and Drug Administration(FDA)guidelines.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted with 264 pregnant women in the obstetrics and gynaecology department of a tertiary care hospital from October 2022 to August 2023.A knowledge,attitude,and practice(KAP)questionnaire was prepared in English language by the researchers and validated by an expert panel consisting of 12 members.The validated questionnaire was then translated into regional languages,Kannada and Malayalam.The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed with test-retest method with a representative sample population of 30 subjects(10 subjects for each language).The subjects'knowledge,attitude,and practice were evaluated using the validated KAP questionnaire.The safety of the medication was assessed using the FDA drug safety classification for pregnancy.Results:The mean scores for nutritional and medication usage knowledge,attitude,and practice were 4.14±1.15,4.50±1.09,and 3.00±1.47,respectively.Among 30 prescribed medications,3 belong to category A(no risk in human studies),8 belong to category B(no risk in animal studies),18 belong to category C(risk cannot be ruled out)and 1 drug is not classified.A significant association was observed between medication knowledge and practice(r=0.159,P=0.010).Conclusions:Most of the study population knows the need to maintain good dietary and medication practices during pregnancy.Counselling pregnant women regarding diet and medication usage is crucial in maternal care.

Assessment of knowledge,cultural beliefs,and behavior regarding medication safety among residents in Harbin,China

BACKGROUND Medication misuse or overuse is significantly associated with poor health outcomes.Information regarding the knowledge,cultural beliefs,and behavior about medication safety in the general population is important.AIM To conduct a survey on medication habits and explored the potential factors impacting medication safety.METHODS The current survey included adults from 18 districts and counties in Harbin,China.A questionnaire on medication safety was designed based on knowledge,cultural beliefs,and behavior.Both univariate and multivariate analyses were used to explore the factors that impacted medication safety.RESULTS A total of 394 respondents completed the questionnaires on medication safety.The mean scores for knowledge,cultural beliefs,and behavior about medication safety were 59.41±19.33,40.66±9.24,and 60.97±13.69,respectively.The medication knowledge score was affected by age(P=0.044),education(P<0.001),and working status(P=0.015).Moreover,the cultural beliefs score was significantly affected by education(P<0.001).Finally,education(P=0.003)and working status(P=0.011)significantly affected the behavior score.CONCLUSION The knowledge,cultural beliefs,and behavior about medication safety among the general population was moderate.Health education should be provisioned for the elderly,individuals with a low education level,and the unemployed to improve medication safety in Harbin,China.

Medical Knowledge Extraction and Analysis from Electronic Medical Records Using Deep Learning

Objectives Medical knowledge extraction (MKE) plays a key role in natural language processing (NLP) research in electronic medical records (EMR),which are the important digital carriers for recording medical activities of patients.Named entity recognition (NER) and medical relation extraction (MRE) are two basic tasks of MKE.This study aims to improve the recognition accuracy of these two tasks by exploring deep learning methods.Methods This study discussed and built two application scenes of bidirectional long short-term memory combined conditional random field (BiLSTM-CRF) model for NER and MRE tasks.In the data preprocessing of both tasks,a GloVe word embedding model was used to vectorize words.In the NER task,a sequence labeling strategy was used to classify each word tag by the joint probability distribution through the CRF layer.In the MRE task,the medical entity relation category was predicted by transforming the classification problem of a single entity into a sequence classification problem and linking the feature combinations between entities also through the CRF layer.Results Through the validation on the I2B2 2010 public dataset,the BiLSTM-CRF models built in this study got much better results than the baseline methods in the two tasks,where the F1-measure was up to 0.88 in NER task and 0.78 in MRE task.Moreover,the model converged faster and avoided problems such as overfitting.Conclusion This study proved the good performance of deep learning on medical knowledge extraction.It also verified the feasibility of the BiLSTM-CRF model in different application scenarios,laying the foundation for the subsequent work in the EMR field.

Knowledge and Skills for Management of Sexually Transmitted Infections by Rural Medical Practitioners in Bangladesh

Sexually transmitted infection (STI) management is considered rudimentary among rural medical practitioners (RMPs) in Bangladesh. We sought to understand the level of knowledge and skills in STI management and to assess the impact of a two-day training orientation among RMPs in Tangail district. Data were collected through a baseline survey of 225 practicing RMPs in the study area and a three-month follow-up survey of 99 RMPs who participated in a two-day STI/HIV orientation training. The level of formal training among RMPs ranged from none (22.7%), to paramedical training (14.7%) and local medical assistant training (62.6%). The baseline survey revealed a low level of STI/HIV knowledge and misconceptions about the transmission of STI/HIV among RMPs. RMPs mostly prescribed first line antibiotics for treatment of common reproductive tract infections (RTIs) including STIs, but they rarely prescribed the correct dosages according to the national RTI/STI management guidelines. Only 3% of RMPs were able to correctly answer all four HIV transmission (unprotected sexual intercourse, blood transfusion, needle sharing and mother to child transmission) questions at baseline, while 94.9% of RMPs answered all four correctly at three months following the training (p = 0.001). Only 10% of RMPs reported suggesting the recommended drug (azithromycin) and only 2% mentioned about the recommended dosage (2 gm single dose) for the treatment of urethritis/cervicitis;compared to 49.5% suggested azithromycin at follow-up with 39.4% mentioned the recommended 2 gm single dose (p = 0.001). Our study found low level of knowledge and poor practices related RTI/STI management among RMPs. Short orientation training and education intervention shown promise to increase knowledge and management skills for RTIs/STIs.

A Barefoot Doctor’s Manual as a“Medical Bible”:Medical Politics and Knowledge Transmission in China

This paper examines the origin,compilation,and circulation of A Barefoot Doctor’s Manual(Chijiao yisheng shouce赤脚医生手册),exploring the relationship between medical politics and knowledge transmission in China,and its impact on the promotion of Chinese medicine across the world.Barefoot doctors were a special group of rural medical practitioners active in a very special socio-political context.Various editions of barefoot doctor manuals and textbooks were published across China after the first publication of the Manual in 1969.The publication of these manuals and textbooks became an indelible hallmark of the“Cultural Revolution”(1966–1976),when political publications predominated.The Manual was not only a guide for barefoot doctors in their daily study and practice,but also a primary source of medical knowledge for ordinary people.In the middle of the 1970s,the Manual was translated into many languages and published worldwide.This paper argues that the publication of A Barefoot Doctor’s Manual embodied a public-oriented mode of knowledge transmission that emerged and was adopted during a very specific era,and though it was eventually substituted by a mode of training embedded in the formal medical education system,it demonstrated the impact of politics on medicine and health in the context of resource scarcity and low literacy.Changes in China’s geopolitical status,the West’s pursuit of alternative approaches to medicine and health,and the World Health Organization’s(WHO’s)concern over health universality and equity all contributed to the translation and circulation of the Manual,facilitating the dissemination of Chinese medicine worldwide.The paper thus presents empirical and theoretical contributions to research on the relationship between medical politics and knowledge transmission in China.

Assessment of toxicology knowledge in the fourth-year medical students:Three years of data

BACKGROUND:Pharmacology and toxicology are core content knowledge for physicians.Medical students should demonstrate understanding of general pharmacology and basic treatment of poisoning.The objective of this study was to measure the knowledge of the 4th-year medical students(MS4)on these topics over 3 years.METHODS:A multiple-choice exam(15 questions)was administered to MS4 students in spring of 2010,2011,and 2012.Questions were developed by medical toxicologists to evaluate basic knowledge in three areas:pharmacologic effects(PE),treatment of poisoning(TOP),and pharmacokinetics(PK).The students were grouped by intended specialtiesinto pharmacologic intense(anesthesia,emergency medicine,internal medicine,pediatrics,and psychiatry),less pharmacologic intense specialties(dermatology,OB/GYN,ophthalmology,pathology,physical medicine and rehabilitation,radiology,and surgery)and by completion of a pharmacology or toxicology elective.Mean group scores were compared using ANOVA.RESULTS:Totally 332 of 401(83%)students completed the survey.Mean scores were stable over the three years,higher for students completing a toxicology rotation and for students entering a pharmacologically intense specialty.CONCLUSION:The external validity is limited to a single medical school with incomplete participation and content was limited by the survey length.Consistent results over the three-year period and correlation of performance with completing a toxicology rotation and intent to enter a pharmacology intensive specialty suggest this survey may correlate with toxicology knowledge.Implementation of required core courses focused on toxicology may improve core content knowledge in fourth year medical students.

Knowledge of Covid-19 among Medical Scientists in Nigeria

Background: The impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have created a need for constant improvement in the effectiveness and efficiency of laboratory diagnosis to contain the spread, aid the treatment and management of positive cases. Inadequate knowledge of COVD-19 and its laboratory diagnosis among medical scientists is detrimental to the reliability of laboratory results, which are critical in the control, and management of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purposes of this study are to determine the knowledge of COVD-19 and to assess the knowledge of laboratory diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 among medical scientists. Methodology: An internet-broadcasted and validated questionnaire was used to obtain data from 131 medical scientists in Nigeria. The generated data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 25. Results: More than half of respondents had good general knowledge and causes (52%), mode of transmission (52.7%), and symptoms (54.2%) of COVID-19. However, only a few (<40%) knew the hallmark of laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19 and Coronavirus detection steps in the right order (45%). Surprisingly, age (F-ratio = 2.729 p = 0.032), gender (χ2 = 4.173;p = 0.041) and level at work (F-ratio = 3.552, p = 0.016) have significant effects on the knowledge of COVID-19 and knowledge of laboratory diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 among the study participants. Conclusion: There is a need for improvement in the knowledge of COVID-19 diagnosis through relevant work level (work experience) and gender-based training as well as continuous professional development programs for medical scientists in Nigeria.

The status of tobacco use and knowledge,and attitudes relating to smoking among female students in a Bengbu medical school

Objective： To learn the status of tobacco use, and the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among female students in Bengbu Medical College. Methods： In a cross-sectional survey, questionnaires were completed by 634 female students in the medical college in 2007, including the prevalence of current smoking, their knowledge of the effects of tobacco use on health, and attitudes towards the smoking behaviors of young women. Results： Only 6.9% of female medical students were former smokers, and 4.9% of them were current smokers. There was no significant difference in the current smoking rate among the students from each department surveyed. Female students from urban areas were more likely to be current or attempted smokers than those from rural areas. The proportion of the students who were aware of the health risks of smoking was less than 45%. The students from the Department of Nursing had more knowledge regarding the harmful health effects of smoking than those from the other departments. There was no significant difference in attitudes towards the smoking behaviors of young women among the students from each department. Compared with female students from rural areas, the female students from urban areas were significantly more likely to think that a young woman who smoked was cool, mature and charming. Conclusion： The smoking prevalence of the female students in Bengbu Medical College is high. They are not aware of the smoking related risks and have erroneous beliefs and perceptions about female smoking behaviors.

The investigation of 1027 medical staff about knowledge grasping and attitude of cancer pain

Objective: To get the message of knowledge and attitude about pain of the medical members from basic medi- cal service sites by questionnaire investigation. To point out concrete directions for generalization and post-education of the three-tiered principles of analgesics treatment of WHO. Methods: We designed a questionnaire about cancer pain treatment. We used it to make inquire in 1040 medical staff from different medical agencies. SPSS software was used to analyze all data. Results: 1027 questionnaires were fit for data analysis. 91.4% of staff working in the primary medical agencies, 95.0% with professional title of assistant professor or lower title, and 83.7% younger than 50-year old. The data displayed that basic knowledge of cancer pain are poorly mastered. More than half investigates cannot evaluate the pain degrees correctly, and have many erroneous understandings about pain. Conclusion: The training of pain treatments for the medical staff working in primary medical agencies should be enhanced because of their poor grasping. Primary agencies should increase the varieties of analgesic drugs and change their attitude and conception of analgesic drugs administration.

Knowledge, Perception and Attitude of Pharmacists, Nurses and Doctors about Home-Care Medical Devices in Sharjah and Ajman, UAE

Background: Medical Equipments are designed to aid in the diagnosis;monitoring or treatment of medical conditions. Upgrades in technology also help continuously educate healthcare professionals. Where previously the use of devices like “mercury sphygmomanometers” is common place, they are now being replaced by either aneroid or “mercury-free” devices. It indicates the development of technology in this area. However, trends show that healthcare professionals still seem to trust “old school” equipment a lot more. Thus, it would be motivating to see why healthcare professionals have such engraved perceptions regarding medical equipment and to be able to investigate their knowledge about current medical devices and what their thoughts are on new technology available in this area. Objectives: This research is designed with an aim to gauge perception and knowledge of targeted HCPs on the risks, benefits, issues, usage and perception on the difference between older medical equipment and the newer ones with state of the art technology available in the market. Methods: A cross-sectional study using a 34 item questionnaire was used to survey a convenient sample of nurses, pharmacists and doctors across community practices in Ajman and Sharjah, UAE. Conclusion: Discouraging HCP’s from a long standing bias towards certain brands may lead towards better therapeutic outcomes for patients. Also, comments from HCP’s prove that HCP’s in these Emirates really do care for their patients and overall improvement of the health care industry.

Knowledge Attitude and Practice towards Infection Control Measures amongst Medical Students in a Medical Teaching Tertiary Care Hospital

Introduction: Health care associated infections (HAIs) are likely to be the most common complication of hospital care. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates these infections to occur among 7% - 12% of the hospitalized patients globally, with more than 1.4 million people suffering from infectious complications acquired in the hospital at any time. Keeping this in mind, the present study was conducted to delineate the level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) for the use of proper disinfection procedures among the final year undergraduate medical students in a tertiary care hospital and teaching institute. Methodology: Present study was conducted at Government Medical College, Surat, a tertiary care hospital and teaching institute. The participants who gave consent were provided with a pre-tested questionnaire that included several questions on knowledge attitude and practices on hospital acquired infections and its control practices. Analysis of the answers was done based on KAP score. Result: 80 students who consented were included in the study. 75% of the study population had correct knowledge about the most common health care associated infections (HAIs), being infection of venous access, urinary tract infection, respiratory infections and surgical site infections, based on their current knowledge on hospital acquired infections. Majority of study participants agreed with the fact that the inappropriate application of disinfection procedures increases the risk for a health care worker of either acquiring or transmitting a HAI from/to a patient. >90% participants had a good attitude towards risk of getting or transmitting any infectious disease by a Health care worker (HCW) while working and the utility of the application of disinfection procedures during work would reduce the rates of HAI. Practices of the students towards disinfection during performance of certain medical procedures ranged from 10% to 88% of the times showing poor practices of the medical students in following disinfection practices. Conclusion: In the present study the knowledge of medical students for the most common cause of hospital acquired infection was satisfactory. The overall attitude of the students was satisfactory as the mean score was 8. The practices of the students for the application of disinfection during performance of certain medical procedures were also satisfactory, although time to time training and tutorials of these students can help in increasing their knowledge, attitude and practices.

Breast Cancer: Knowledge, Attitudes on Risk Factors and Means of Screening by Medical Students from Lomé, Togo

Background: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in women around the world. The objective of this study was to assess knowledge and attitudes about breast cancer screening among students in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Lomé. Methods: This was a prospective descriptive transversal study conducted among students enrolled in the Faculty of Health Sciences (FSS) of the University of Lomé (UL) in the 2019 school year account 2020. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitudes of medical students about breast cancer screening. Results: In total, the questionnaire was completed by 934 students, for a response rate of 57.1%. The most frequently mentioned risk factors were the presence of a family history of breast cancer (n = 799, 85.55%) and the use of oral or injectable contraceptives (n = 606, 64.88%). There is a statistically significant link between the participants’ knowledge of the self-examination and clinical examination of the breasts and certain socio-demographic characteristics, namely age (OR = 0.2, 95% CI [0.11 - 0.75], p-value < 0.0001), the level of study (OR = 1.5, 95% CI [0.55 - 2.46], p-value = 0.0054), the follow-up of a course on breast cancer (OR = 2.63, 95% CI [0.32 - 4.33], p-value = 0.009) and the effectiveness of an internship in a gynecology-obstetrics department (OR = 0.77, 95% CI [0.49 - 2.56], p-value < 0.0001). Similarly, there is a statistically significant link between participants’ knowledge of mammography and certain socio-demographic characteristics, namely age (OR = 0.75, 95% CI [0.50 - 0.84], p-value = 0.0005), the level of study (OR = 1.92, 95% CI [1.11 - 3.46], p-value < 0.0001), the follow-up of a course or training on breast cancer (OR = 2.44, 95% CI [0.08 - 3.91], p-value < 0.0001) and the effectiveness of an internship in a gynecology-obstetrics department (OR = 0.62, 95% CI [0.33 - 0.85], p-value < 0.0001). Conclusion: Knowledge and attitudes related to breast cancer screening have been found to be generally satisfactory to medical students. Active measures are needed to develop educational programs for health personnel, which could enable them to disseminate knowledge and positively influence patient attitudes.

A survey of advanced medical students’ knowledge towards cancer pain management

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate advanced medical students' knowledge towards cancer pain management, and understand the effect of specialisms and duration of oncology rotation on the advanced medical students' cognitive level towards cancer pain management. Methods: Randomly selected the respondents from a medical school in Wuhan, China. The educational background of the respondents should belong to one of these conditions: (1) clinical master degree candidate; (2) clinical doctor degree candidate; (3) the sixth or seventh year of clinical medicine for seven years. The respondents should also spend more than one year on internship. The self-developed questionnaire papers were distributed to respondents in the unit of dorms selected randomly and recovered them immediately after they're finished. The categori- cal data were expressed at the form of frequency (rate or constituent ratio). Chi-square test was required only as needed. Results: The survey was anonymous. We distributed 300 papers, recovered 300 papers and weeded out 8 invalid papers. Finally there were 292 valid papers, and the valid recovery rate was 97.3%. The 96.7% of oncological medical students and 47.6% non-oncological medical students relied on patients' description for cancer pain assessments; 90.0% of oncological medical students and 53.0% of non-oncological medical students prescribed strong opioid drugs firstly for patients suffering severe cancer pain; only 24.1% of non-oncological medical students recognized that pethidine was not safe and effective to treat cancer pain, which was much lower than oncological medical students (90.0%); 73.3% of oncological medical students and 28.9% of non-oncological medical students had the correct impression of drug addiction; 85.5% of non-oncological medi- cal students worried about the drug addiction, while 60.0% of oncological medical students worried about the strict control over opioid. In respect of the details of cancer pain management, only 66.7% of oncological medical students recognized that there was no upper limit of opioid prescribed clinically, and 16.3% of oncological medical students recognized that there was no psychological dependence if patients took opioid orally. The 69.8% of the students from no-less-than-two-week group relied on patients' description for cancer pain assessments, 76.7% prescribed strong opioid drugs firstly for patients suffer- ing severe cancer pain, 69.8% recognized that pethidine was not safe and effective to treat cancer pain, and 55.8% had the correct impression of drug addiction. All of the data were higher than that in no-rotation group and that in less-than-two-week group. The 51.2% of the students from no-less-than-two-week worried about drug addiction, which was the lowest of all. Conclusion: The cognitive level of advanced medical students towards cancer pain management is so low that it could not satisfy the clinical requirement, especially for the non-oncological medical students and the students spending little time on oncology rotation. Though the oncological medical students know something about cancer pain treatment, they know little about the details.

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) on Rheumatic Heart Disease among Senior Medical Students in Cameroon

Background: Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is the commonest cause of valvular heart disease in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). The low cardiologist to patient ratio leaves a big challenge of RHD prevention and management to general practitioners in Cameroon. This makes it important to assess the aptitude of senior medical students who are doctors-to-be on RHD. This could thus give a base on which to increase awareness and decrease the burden of the disease. Therefore, we sort to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of senior medical students on rheumatic heart disease. General objective: To determine the level of knowledge, attitudes on rheumatic heart disease, and assess practices towards RHD and its prevention. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in four medical schools in Cameroon for a period of 3 months (from January 1st to April 1st, 2019). The senior medical students were recruited using a structured self-administered questionnaire and electronic forms. Data were entered into an excel spreadsheet and analysed with IBM SPSS version 25.0 for windows. The knowledge level was divided into tertiles (poor, moderate and good) while the attitudes and practices were divided into poor or good. Association to KAP was evaluated and Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: In total, 509 senior medical students (6th and 7th year) were recruited. The mean age was 24.6 (SD ± 1.7) with 53.2% of students in the 19 to 24 years-old range. There were more females (51.7%) and level 6 students (50.1%). Most of the students had moderate knowledge (58.2%), with good attitudes and practices on rheumatic heart disease and its prevention. One-quarter of the students had good knowledge, attitudes, and practices on rheumatic heart disease. Lecture on RHD, history of sore throat and study in faculty of health science (FHS) was associated with good knowledge, attitudes, and practices on RHD. Conclusion: Despite having most of the senior medical students (6th and 7th years) in Cameroon with moderate to good knowledge of RHD, only a third has an above-average knowledge. There is a modest knowledge of RHD that could be used as an important foundation upon which to build RHD educational programs to expand awareness and understanding. Every 1 in 4 senior medical students have good knowledge, attitude and practice on RHD.

Knowledge Formalization about Perforated Stomach Ulcer on the Basis of Medical Ontology

The article defines knowledge about pelforated stomach ulcer that is formalized on the basis of an ontology model of medical diagnostics domain. The paper describes a base of observations for the disease and also knowledge base which determines a clinical presentation of the disease. The dependences on courses of the disease and process localization are taken into account during knowledge formalizing. The base of knowledge for the disease has the structure that is conventional for contemporary medicine. These knowledge will be used for building a medical intellectual system of for consulting and diagnostics.

Knowledge, Attitude and Oral Hygiene Practices among Medical Practitioners in Delta State, Nigeria

Background: The knowledge of good oral hygiene is of paramount importance for the technical knowhow to keep one’s mouth clean and free from periodontal diseases. Thus, one’s attitude towards oral hygiene directly affects the oral health status. Aims: The study aimed at evaluating the knowledge, attitude and oral hygiene practices among medical practitioners in Delta State, Nigeria. The research also aimed at determining the effect of sex on knowledge, attitude and oral hygiene practices. Methodology: This study was an observational cross sectional study. Purposive sampling technique was employed. A total of a hundred and twenty-three health care providers were assessed with a structured questionnaire. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics and Research Committee in the Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 18.0 package. Descriptive statistics was analyzed using simple frequency percentages distribution and association between categorical variables and sex was done using a chi-square test. Significance was accepted at p Result: Findings from the study present 76.0% males and 24.0% females in the studied population. Five categories of health care providers were assessed, 63.0% of respondents were medical officers, 21.0% were consultants, and 10.0% were residents, while 6.0% were house officers. The results showed that 43.9% of the participants brushed their teeth once daily, 54.5% twice daily while 1.6% thrice daily. Respondents were asked the last time they visited a dentist. Out of the 123 participants, 37.4% never visited, 20.3% claimed six months ago, 13.0% visited a year ago, 10.6% two years ago and 19.40% visited more than two years ago. It also shows percentage distribution of variant types of last treatment, 19.5% had extraction, 10.6% had filling, and 33.3% had scaling and polishing while 36.6% had other types of dental treatment. The study revealed that the majority of the respondents (93.5%) had a positive attitude towards oral health. A total of 91.9% of the participants had knowledge of oral hygiene, while 8.1% had no idea of oral hygiene. More than half of the respondent (57.2%) agreed and strongly agreed that oral hygiene knowledge in medical schools was adequate while 35.0% disagreed and strongly disagreed. There was no significant association (p > 0.05) between frequency of daily teeth brushing, last dental visit, variant treatments and sex. Conclusion: Findings from this study showed that the majority of the participants had an adequate knowledge on proper oral hygiene care and they had a positive attitude towards oral health. Being health care providers, the adequate knowledge and positive attitude could have a positive impact on the patients.