Knowledge of venomous snakes, snakebite first aid, treatment, and prevention among clinicians in northern Nigeria: a cross-sectional multicentre study

Snakebite envenoming causes considerable morbidity and mortality in northern Nigeria. The clinician's knowledge of snakebite impacts outcome. We assessed clinicians' knowledge of snakebite envenoming to highlight knowledge and practice gaps for possible intervention to improve snakebite ou...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2018-02, Vol.112 (2), p.47-56
Main Authors: Michael, Godpower C, Grema, Bukar A, Aliyu, Ibrahim, Alhaji, Mohammed A, Lawal, Teslim O, Ibrahim, Haliru, Fikin, Aminu G, Gyaran, Fatima S, Kane, Kennedy N, Thacher, Thomas D, Badamasi, Abba K, Ogwuche, Emmanuel
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Snakebite envenoming causes considerable morbidity and mortality in northern Nigeria. The clinician's knowledge of snakebite impacts outcome. We assessed clinicians' knowledge of snakebite envenoming to highlight knowledge and practice gaps for possible intervention to improve snakebite outcomes. This was a cross-sectional multicentre study of 374 doctors selected from the accident and emergency, internal medicine, family medicine/general outpatient, paediatrics and surgery departments of nine tertiary hospitals in northern Nigeria using a multistage sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess their sociodemographics, knowledge of common venomous snakes, snakebite first aid, snake antivenom treatment and prevention. The respondents' mean age was 35.6±5.8 y. They were predominantly males (70.6%) from urban hospitals (71.9%), from the northwest region (35.3%), in family medicine/general outpatient departments (33.4%), of
ISSN:0035-9203
1878-3503
DOI:10.1093/trstmh/try028