Evaluation of the cooperation of private physicians in the notifiable disease reporting in Hamadan province

disease control in Iran is mainly based on routine reporting of notifiable diseases in the national health system. On time reporting of diseases and appropriate action for reported cases are essential in this system. The aim of this study was to determine the status of routine reporting system of notifiable diseases in private sector physicians of Hamadan province. This cross-sectional study was performed with participation of private sector employed physicians of Hamadan province using a standard questionnaire. The data were analyzed using chi-square test. p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 354 physicians including 178 (5%0.3) general practitioners, 138 (39%) expert physicians, 15 (%4.2) specialist and 23 (6.5%) laboratory associates were interviewed. 5%1.1 of the participants expressed that they report notifiable diseases. Cooperation of the laboratory associates (69.5%) and general practitioners (6%1.2) in reporting the notifiable diseases were significantly higher than the expert physicians (%39.8) and specialists (6%.3) (P = 0.001). There was no significant difference between job experience, work experience in the public health system and employment in the public sector of the health care system and the cooperation in reporting notifiable diseases. Cooperation of private sector physicians in reporting the notifiable diseases was in an intermediate level. So, it seems necessary to hold the periodic retraining courses for physicians. Existing methods should be revised for promotion of this level of reporting.