Assessment of Knowledge of Acute Kidney Injury among Non- Nephrology Doctors in Two Government Hospitals in Ondo City, Southwest, Nigeria

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Adequate knowledge of acute kidney injury(AKI) among doctors is essential for its prevention, early diagnosisand management. Assessing knowledge of AKI among doctors isnecessary to identify areas of deficiencies and key areas to beemphasized when organizing educational programs aimed atimproving AKI care. This study determined the knowledge of AKIamong non-nephrology doctors in Ondo City, Southwest Nigeria.MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectionaldescriptive study carried out in two government hospitals in OndoCity using a self-administered pretested questionnaire that assessedknowledge of AKI among non-nephrology doctors. P-value of <0.05 was taken as significant.RESULTS: Eighty-one doctors participated in the study with amedian post-graduation experience of 5.5 years. Sixty-one (78.2%)were in surgical specialty while the remaining worked in medicalspecialty. Only 1(1.2%) of the respondents had good knowledge ofAKI, 56(69.2%) had fair knowledge while the remaining 24(29.6%) had poor knowledge of AKI. Identified areas ofdeficiencies in knowledge of AKI were in mode of presentation,risk factors, potentially nephrotoxic medications, criteria for AKIdefinition and staging, newer AKI biomarkers and indications forrenal replacement therapy. There was no significant associationbetween knowledge of AKI and specialty (p=0.593) or year ofpractice (p=0.312)CONCLUSION: There were significant deficiencies in theknowledge of AKI amongst most non-nephrology doctors in Ondocity. We therefore recommend regular in-service training on AKIfor practicing doctors