Awareness about Irritable Bowel Syndrome among Interns of Medical College

• Main Authors: Anurag Lavekar, Suhas Chandran, Dushad Ram, Aarsha Sadar, K Sri Manjari
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: ADICHUNCHANAGIRI INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES 2019-02-01
• Series: Journal of Medical Sciences and Health
• Subjects: irritable bowel syndrome; knowledge; interns; medical college
• Online Access: http://jmsh.ac.in/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=105:awareness-about-irritable-bowel-syndrome-among-interns-of-medical-college&Itemid=86

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of interns of JSS Medical College regarding irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and to investigate the same with the hypothesis that their levels of expertise were not appropriate to the required standards. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2018 to March 2018 at JSS Medical College and Hospital, Mysore. 200 study subjects included interns working across all departments. Informed consent was obtained from all the interns. Semi-structured interview of the interns was conducted by a trained researcher using a pretested questionnaire related to IBS. Results: The salient feature of this study was that the overall knowledge about IBS among interns was good. Even though >50% of interns had good knowledge about IBS, there was still a lack of better minutiae of IBS. The interns of the present study also emphasize the establishment of “Indian guidelines for the diagnosis and management of IBS” and feel that the most useful way to help learn more about IBS was to continue the medical education programs which would improve their knowledge, attitude, and awareness about IBS. Conclusion: The caveat of the study, on the whole, includes that there was a lack of finer details of IBS among interns, which could be improved on. Clinical Significance: The present study emphasizes the need to remodel the medical curriculum to include detection and management of IBS and other functional gastrointestinal disorders, thereby enriching the knowledge of these young doctors so that ultimately the community at large gets benefited.