title: [Managing the risk of wound tetanus in family practice].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The study objectives were to assess how GPs manage the risk of tetanus in wounds, compared to the French Health Ministry guidelines on tetanus toxoid vaccination and immunoglobulin injections.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey was made using an online questionnaire sent to 3,165 GPs in the French Rhône-Alpes region.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The answer rate was 9.1%. Overall, 64.4% of GP complied to recommendations. The best observance was noted for minor risk wounds and for patients whose last booster vaccination was less than 5years old (P<0.05). Generally, GPs underused tetanus toxoid vaccination (-17.1%) and overused immunoglobulin injections (+37.1%). The main difficulties encountered were assessing the patient and his wound, misuse of immunoglobulin injections, and ignorance of recommendations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The higher the tetanic risk, the less recommendations were observed. A quick diagnostic test and a better availability of new easier to memorize recommendations should help GPs optimize their practices.
authors.affiliation: Service universitaire de médecine générale, faculté de médecine Jacques-Lisfranc, 15, rue Ambroise-Paré, 42023 Saint-Étienne cedex 2, France. barjat.christophe@neuf.fr
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barjat
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Charles
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lucht
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Frappé
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012308:Risk Management; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013742:Tetanus / Q000628:therapy*; D014946:Wound Infection / Q000628:therapy*