A research about the requirement for education of family physicians who work for primary health care in family health centers about Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)

Objective: In this study it was aimed to find out the awareness, behaviors and educational requirements of family physicians about restless legs syndrome.Method: This was a sectional study which included 400 family physicians who have been working in family health centers in 6 central county towns randomly selected out of 11 in province İzmir. Out of expected 400, 384 (94%) of the physicians participated the study. A questionnaire was applied to the physicians to investigate the awareness and the acquirements of them about RLS. The questionnaire included questions investigating how frequently the physician encounters RLS, how she/he manages the patient, participation of the physician in training activities after graduation about RLS, diagnosis codes she/he prefers, demographic data of the physician and her/his level of knowledge about RLS. The data were gathered with face to face interview in her/his office atmosphere by applying questionnaire and evaluated by SPSS 15.0 program. When evaluating the data chi-square and t test with ONE WAY ANOVA were used and founded that p<0.05, accepted as significant.Results: The mean age of physicians was 43.21±7.00 and 39.8% (153) were women, 60.2% (231) were men and the career period was 18.90±6.24 years. 94% (361) of the physicians didn't participate in any educational program about RLS. 50.3% (193) never diagnosed RLS. The mean knowledge score of the physicians was 2.70±2.05. Women gender, physicians who participated in any educational program after graduation and the ones who have diagnosis of RLS of herself/himself or relatives, friends had significantly higher scores of knowledge.Conclusion: Even though some of the physicians had higher knowledge? scores, generally the scores were low. The family physicians need training about both RLS diagnosis and managing RLS.