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 diagnosis and management. Assessing knowledge of AKI among doctors is necessary to identify areas of deficiencies and key areas to be emphasized when organizing educational programs aimed at improving AKI care. This study determined the knowledge of AKI among non-nephrology doctors in Ondo City, Southwest Nigeria.

Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out in two government hospitals in Ondo City using a self-administered pretested questionnaire that assessed knowledge of AKI among non-nephrology doctors. P-value of < 0.05 was taken as significant.

Results: Eighty-one doctors participated in the study with a median post-graduation experience of 5.5 years. Sixty-one (78.2%) were in surgical specialty while the remaining worked in medical specialty. Only 1(1.2%) of the respondents had good knowledge of AKI, 56(69.2%) had fair knowledge while the remaining 24 (29.6%) had poor knowledge of AKI. Identified areas of deficiencies in knowledge of AKI were in mode of presentation, risk factors, potentially nephrotoxic medications, criteria for AKI definition and staging, newer AKI biomarkers and indications for renal replacement therapy. There was no significant association between knowledge of AKI and specialty (p=0.593) or year of practice (p=0.312)

Conclusion: There were significant deficiencies in the knowledge of AKI amongst most non-nephrology doctors in Ondo city. We therefore recommend regular in-service training on AKI for practicing doctors.

Keywords: Knowledge, Non-nephrology doctors, Acute Kidney Injury