Deepanjan Bhattacharya¹*, Koyel Chakraborty² and Bhavneet Bharti¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, Advanced Pediatric Centre, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India
²Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, India

*Corresponding Author: Deepanjan Bhattacharya, Senior Resident, Department of Paediatrics, Advanced Pediatric Centre, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India.

Received: September 16, 2022; Published: November 08, 2022

Abstract

Introduction: Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan addresses the eradication of all polio disease, whether caused by wild poliovirus or circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus. In this backdrop, present study was conducted among resident pediatric doctors to evaluate their knowledge about polio along with various nuances of the strategic plan.

Materials and Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional study. Residents responded to 21-item predesigned, pre-tested MCQ format awareness questionnaire with binary scoring (correct1, incorrect0). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were carried out for finding association of awareness scores with various predictors using R software.

Results: Total of 89 residents were enrolled out of whom 40.4% (n = 36) were from first three semesters, 36% (n = 32) were from 4-6^th semester and remaining 23.6% (n = 21) were post MD Senior Residents. Median awareness score was 10 (IQR 4) with minimum and maximum scores of 4 and 16.

Senior Residents had significantly better scores than Junior Residents (p = 0.045). Less than half could correctly state the year of initiation of pulse polio immunization and schedule of IPV, while only 15% could demonstrate correct use of vaccine vial monitor.

There was statistically significant positive correlation between the semester of the resident and the total awareness score (Spearman rho 0.25; p = 0.02). Only 22.4% residents reported active participation during national pulse polio campaigns. All the participants (n = 20) in Pulse polio program had better awareness with mean scores of 10.7 (2.4) when compared to non participants 9.5 (3) and this difference showed a trend for significance.

Conclusion: Given the low awareness regarding polio strategic plan, it is imperative that pediatric trainees be sensitized early during their training to improve their active participation in the national programmes.

Keywords: Pulse Polio Immunisation; Polio; Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV)

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Citation: Deepanjan Bhattacharya., et al. “How Well Informed are Our Pediatric Trainees About Polio When the World Prepares for the End Game Strategy?". Acta Scientific Clinical Case Reports 3.12 (2022): 08-17.

Copyright: © 2022 Deepanjan Bhattacharya., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.