title: [Notifiable infectious diseases: knowledge and notification among hospital physicians].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Notifiable infectious diseases represent a public health hazard, which is why they are under surveillance and must be reported. We tried to assess hospital physicians' knowledge of hospital physicians on notifiable infectious diseases and their self-reported attitudes to notification.
  
  
  METHODS
  An observational study was conducted using a questionnaire with 11 multiple choice questions, two yes/no questions and one short-answer question. It was distributed to all senior doctors and residents in 19 medical and surgical departments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 248 questionnaires were sent out, with a response rate of 79.84%. More than three-quarters (76.3%) of the respondents were senior doctors. As regards specific knowledge about whether a particular disease is a notifiable disease, 29.5% identified correctly 100% of the named diseases, 3.2% could not identify any of them. All urgent named notifiable infectious diseases were correctly identified by 25.3% of physicians. Statistically significant differences were found in the knowledge of notifiable diseases knowledge in medical and surgical departments, as well as for senior doctors (P=.047) and residents (P=.035). A high percentage of medical services (40%) and surgical (70%) department reported never failing to notify. When asked about the causes of under-reporting, 72% did not know whether notification was mandatory or not, and 88% did not know what diseases must be notified.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although many respondents are aware that diseases notification is part of their daily activity, many of them admit under-reporting. There is insufficient knowledge about what diseases are considered notifiable infectious diseases and how to notify them.
authors: Departamento de Medicina Preventiva, Hospital Universitario Fundación Alcorcón, Madrid, España. Electronic address: lrcirilo@gmail.com.
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Rubio-Cirilo
authors: M Dolores
authors: MD
authors: Martín-Ríos
authors: Gonzalo
authors: G
authors: de Las Casas-Cámara
authors: M José
authors: MJ
authors: Andrés-Prado
authors: Gil
authors: G
authors: Rodríguez-Caravaca
mesh_terms: D003141:Communicable Diseases; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018563:Disease Notification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Conocimiento; Disease notification; Enfermedades de declaración obligatoria; Epidemiological surveillance; Knowledge; Notifiable infectious diseases; Notificación; Vigilancia epidemiológica