Educational Needs Assessment of General Practitioners Working in Health Centers Affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran on the State of Tuberculosis Care System

Tuberculosis is a global health problem and one of the top ten causes of mortality in the world. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the educational needs of general practitioners working in health centers of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran about tuberculosis.
This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed with the participation of all general practitioners working in health centers of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran. Sampling method was census and 83 of the 97 doctors participated in the study. A needs assessment was performed using selfassessment and knowledge assessment questionnaires that were classified into five areas of general information about tuberculosis, detection, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Data were entered into the SPSS-21 software and analyzed using one-way ANOVA.
In this study, 35 (42.2%) of the participants were from the Shargh Health Center, 31 (37.3%) from the Shomal Health Center and 17 (20.5%) of them were from the Shemiranet Health Network. Among the participants, 50 (60.2%) had participated in TB training course, and 79 (95.2%) had followed the DOTS strategy for treating patients. About 58 (69.9%) of them declared that workshop is the most effective method for learning. The mean (SD) level of general knowledge of physicians in the Shomal Health Center was 8.22 (6.4), the Shargh Health Center was 22.8 (6.5) and the Shemiranat Health. Network was 22.1 (7.5) out of 40. One-way analysis of variance did not show a significant difference between mean scores of groups, but weakness of knowledge in the field of treatment was observed according to the knowledge test and self-assessment.
The study showed that the physicians’ knowledge was weak in all areas and was more significant in the field of treatment than other areas.