Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Medical students should have adequate knowledge on tuberculosis (TB) and
national guidelines pertaining to its control, which is a major public health problem in developing
countries. The present study aims to evaluate the knowledge on TB and Revised National TB Control
Programme (RNTCP) among medical interns and the change in the level of knowledge following the
dissemination of self‑directed learning (SDL) modules using an e‑learning tool (WhatsApp).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective, nonrandomized, pre‑ and posttest study was done
among 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 the
educational intervention, the same questionnaire was administered and posttest data were collected.
The pre‑ and posttest results were expressed in frequency and percentage. Wilcoxon signed rank
test was used to compare the change in the total mean score of knowledge using the e‑learning tool
following 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%) were
the most common source of recent information regarding TB and RNTCP. The mean pretest score
was 12.9 ± 3.08, which increased to 15.3 ± 2.62 during the posttest (z = −9.75, P < 0.05) following
the 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 knowledge
in posttest as compared to pretest.
Keywords
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