Providers′ knowledge, attitude and dispensing practices of E-Pills in government dispensaries of south district in Delhi, India

• Main Authors: Kishore Vertika (Author), Misro Man (Author), Nandan Deoki (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications, 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

<b>Background:</b> South Delhi is one of the well developed districts in the capital with best public health care facilities. Knowledge, attitude and dispensing practices of emergency contraceptive pills (E-pills) were assessed among health care providers of government dispensaries in South Delhi. <b> Study Design:</b> A descriptive epidemiological study. <b> Materials and Methods:</b> Both medical and paramedical (n = 428) providers in 63 government health care facilities were interviewed between August to December 2007 using a semi-structured interview schedule. <b> Results:</b> Among the different categories of the providers, medical officers were observed to be most knowledgeable about E-pills and the pharmacists were the least. The correct prescribed dose of E-pill was known only to 32&#x0025; of the providers while 49&#x0025; knew about its right time of intake. Misconceptions and apprehensions for promoting its use were very much prevalent even among medical officers as majority felt that open access to E-pills would increase promiscuity. The dispensing practice of providers was found positively (<i> P</i> &lt; 0.05) correlated with their knowledge. Training resulted a significant (<i> P</i> &lt; 0.05) improvement in knowledge, attitude and dispensing practice of the providers. Knowledge and training combined together contributed 35&#x0025; to the dispensing practice (R² = 0.35). <b> Conclusion:</b> Besides knowledge, behavior change communication strategies should form a part of the training curricula of health care providers that would help to improve the dispensing practice of E-pills.

Item Description

0970-0218
1998-3581