Background and objective: Doctors' knowledge contributes to practice and quality of care rendered to patients. To assess the knowledge and practice assessment and self reported barriers to guideline-based management among doctors.
Subjects and methods: This was a cross-sectional study among doctors from various part of the country attending a continuing medical education (CME) program in Lagos, Nigeria. We used a self-administered, pretested, semistructured, validated questionnaire based on the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guideline.
Results: Of the 98 participants, 41 (42%) and 18 (18.4%) had good level of asthma knowledge and practice, respectively. There was no relationship between level of knowledge and practice and the level of knowledge was not associated with the practice (X2 = 6.56, P = 0.16). The most reported barriers to good guideline-based practice were the unavailability of diagnostic and treatment facilities (44.3%), poor medication adherence (25.7%), and high cost of asthma medications (18.6%).
Conclusion: The level of asthma knowledge and practice, respectively, among doctors in Nigeria is low and there is no relationship between level of knowledge and practice. Unavailability of diagnostic and treatment facilities, poor medication adherence, and high cost of medications are important barriers to good practice. There is a need to improve asthma education among doctors in Nigeria. Addressing barriers to good practice is essential for the translation of knowledge into practice.
Keywords: Asthma; continuing medical education; knowledge; management; practice.