. A. V. Ancy; . Prabha Thangaraj; . Kumaraswamy Hemalatha; . M. Bethubarani
Volume 10, Issue 9 , September 2020, , Pages 1-7
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Medical students should have adequate knowledge on tuberculosis (TB) andnational guidelines pertaining to its control, which is a major public health problem in developingcountries. ...
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BACKGROUND: Medical students should have adequate knowledge on tuberculosis (TB) andnational guidelines pertaining to its control, which is a major public health problem in developingcountries. The present study aims to evaluate the knowledge on TB and Revised National TB ControlProgramme (RNTCP) among medical interns and the change in the level of knowledge following thedissemination of self‑directed learning (SDL) modules using an e‑learning tool (WhatsApp).MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective, nonrandomized, pre‑ and posttest study was doneamong 124 medical interns in a private medical college during July–August 2019. A semi‑structured,self‑administered questionnaire was prepared and filled by the interns in the pretest. Following theeducational intervention, the same questionnaire was administered and posttest data were collected.The pre‑ and posttest results were expressed in frequency and percentage. Wilcoxon signed ranktest was used to compare the change in the total mean score of knowledge using the e‑learning toolfollowing the dissemination of SDL modules.RESULTS: The mean age of the interns was 22.82 ± 0.82 years. Of the total 124 interns, 60 (48.3%)had heard about the recent changes in RNTCP. The Internet (25.8%) and textbooks (23.4%) werethe most common source of recent information regarding TB and RNTCP. The mean pretest scorewas 12.9 ± 3.08, which increased to 15.3 ± 2.62 during the posttest (z = −9.75, P < 0.05) followingthe intervention.CONCLUSIONS: The knowledge regarding TB and RNTCP among the interns was inadequate.The usage of an e‑learning tool “WhatsApp” was found to be effective in improving the knowledgein posttest as compared to pretest.