EVALUATION OF DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT MEASURES OF ACUTE BACTERIAL TONSILITIS AND VIRAL UPPER RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTIONS IN FAMILY MEDICINE PRACTIONERS

Materials and Methods: This study was conducted between April 2010 and May 2010 by face to face questionnaire. The doctors were asked to answer questions about predetermined ABT pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment criteria by grading 1-5. Demographic and education information, daily number of patients, number of patients diagnosed as ABT viral URI and whether they were family physicians were also questioned.

Results: During the study, 91 physician visits were made in 21 Family Health Centers or Community Health Centers in the city center. Sixtysix physicians accepted to answer the questionnaire. The gender distribution of the respondents was 62.1% male, 37.9% female, and the mean age was 45.97 ± 5.1 years. Duration of the study was 21.26 ± 5 years, 52.2% were family physicians and 47.8% were general practitioners. History (69.7%) and culture (86.4%) were the most important diagnostic criteria for diagnosis. Among the antibiotics, Amox-clu (87.9%), per oral penicillin (69.7%) and parenteral pencil (42.4%) were preferred.

Results: 72.5% of the physicians visited agreed to answer the questionnaire. As a result of the questionnaire, it was determined that the criteria of Acute bacterial tonsillitis and viral URIs of General Practitioners and Family Physicians involved in the execution of primary health care services were mostly in line with current guidelines. However, it was found that the diagnostic criteria of the Centor Scoring were not fully adopted or even fully adopted. Acute tonsillitis and viral URI diagnosis and treatment trainings were considered to be beneficial in the postgraduate education. Keywords : Tonsillitis, pharyngitis, respiratory tract infections, continuing medical education