Obstetrician-Gynecologists’ knowledge of sickle cell disease screening and management

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth

Jay Schulkin³  Althea M Grant¹  Vanessa R Byams¹  Britta L Anderson³  Ijeoma C Azonobi² 

[1] Division of Blood Disorders, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA;Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA;The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Washington, DC, USA

关键词: Obstetrics;    Physician practice patterns;    Sickle cell disease;   

Others  :  1118367
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2393-14-356

 received in 2014-04-14, accepted in 2014-09-22,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Although obstetrician/gynecologists (OB/GYNs) play an important role in sickle cell disease (SCD) screening and patient care, there is little information on knowledge of SCD or sickle cell trait (SCT) or related practices in this provider group. Our objective was to assess SCD screening and prenatal management practices among OB/GYNs.

Methods

Twelve hundred Fellows and Junior Fellows of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (the College)^a were invited to complete a mailed survey, of which half (n = 600) belonged to the Collaborative Ambulatory Research Network.^b Participants answered questions regarding appropriate target patient groups for prenatal SCD screening, folic acid requirements, practice behaviors and adequacy of their medical school and residency training.

Results

A total of 338 CARN members (56.3%) and 165 non-CARN members (27.5%) returned a survey. Of the 503 responders, 382 provided obstetric services and were included in the analyses. Forty percent of these respondents (n = 153) reported seeing at least 1 patient with SCD in the last year. Of these, 97.4% reported regularly screening people of African descent for SCD or SCT, whereas 52.9% reported regularly screening people of Mediterranean descent and 30.1% reported regularly screening people of Asian descent. Only 56.2% knew the correct recommended daily dose of folic acid for pregnant women with SCD. The proportion of respondents that rated training on SCD screening, assessment and treatment as barely adequate or inadequate ranged from 19.7% to 39.3%.

Conclusions

The practice of many OB/GYNs who care for patients with SCD are not consistent with the College Practice Guidelines on the screening of certain target groups and on folic acid supplementation. There may be an opportunity to improve this knowledge gap through enhanced medical education.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Azonobi et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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