Does Attendance at a Sickle Cell Educational Conference Improve Clinician Knowledge and Attitude Toward Patients with Sickle Cell Disease?
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disease associated with both chronic pain and acute painful events referred to as vaso-occlusive crises. Individuals with SCD suffer from a multitude of medical complications in addition to pain. Patients often are stigmatized as "drug-seeking" and receive inadequate pain management. The purpose of this study was to compare clinicians' SCD knowledge and attitudes toward patients with SCD before attending a 2-day conference on SCD (T1) with knowledge and attitudes immediately postconference (T2) and 2 months postconference (T3). A prospective, descriptive survey design was used. The authors administered surveys to assess SCD knowledge and clinicians' attitudes toward patients with SCD at three time points: T1 (N = 59), T2 (N = 38), and T3 (N = 30). SCD knowledge was measured using a 20-item survey, and clinicians' attitudes toward patients with SCD were measured with the General Perceptions About Sickle Cell Patients Scale, which included items on four independent subscales: positive attitudes, negative attitudes, concern-raising behaviors, and red-flag behaviors. The authors compared changes in knowledge and attitude scores between T1-T2 and T1-T3. Overall, knowledge scores were significantly improved (p < .001) and significantly increased between T1-T2 (p < .0001) and T1-T3 (p = .01). Negative attitudes trended lower over the three time points (p = .07), but a significant decrease in the negative attitudes score was only noted for T1-T3 (Z = -2.16.17, p = .03). Attendance at an educational SCD conference was an effective means to improve knowledge and decrease negative attitudes among clinicians. These differences were maintained at 2 months postconference.
School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Electronic address: coretta.jenerette@unc.edu.
Coretta M
CM
Jenerette
Private Diagnostic Clinic PLLC, Duke Medicine, Durham, North Carolina.
Cheryl A
CA
Brewer
Duke University School of Nursing, Durham, North Carolina.
Susan
S
Silva
Duke University Schools of Nursing and Medicine, Durham, North Carolina.
Paula
P
Tanabe
D000328:Adult; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires