Knowledge levels and attitudes of family medicine assistants and family doctors with specialized medicine training on rational laboratory use

For centuries, the understanding of medicine based on the observations, experiences and inferences of physicians has shifted to an understanding of evidence-based medicine based on scientificity, clear results and reliability in recent years. Clinical laboratories are places where more than three thousand tests, which started with blood glucose measurement a century ago, are studied with fast, reliable and clear results and have become indispensable for evidence-based medicine. About 70% of important medical decisions are made based on laboratory tests. The use of such an important power in the most efficient way and for the benefit of society can be achieved with its rational use. Laboratory tests have become unsustainable due to the fact that variables such as population growth and old age, which significantly affect the test request, increase much more than the speed. This situation causes cost and workload increase, and harmful consequences for patients and healthcare workers. Most inappropriate, unnecessary, or inadequate testing is done in the pre-laboratory period. Although physicians have an important share in primary care laboratory tests, they play a key role as they are at the beginning of the test request process. The aim of this study is to examine the attitudes of physicians working in primary care about their knowledge levels and rational laboratory use. The study was structured using the web-based questionnaire method created by scanning the literature. In the first part of the questionnaire, there is a general information section with demographic data, in the second part there are questions about the level of knowledge, and in the third part there are suggestions about attitudes and behaviors. The research was carried out with 354 (40%) physicians working in primary care in our province. 185 (52.3%) of the physicians participating in our study were female and 169 (47.7%) were male. The most requested test (94%) was glucose measurement. Participants scored an average of 7.2 (±1.6) points for knowledge questions, and an average of 7.3 (±1.1) points for statements about attitude, out of a maximum of 11. No significant correlation was found between sociodemographic characteristics, level of knowledge and laboratory use. Even when only a small intervention, such as questioning patients' previous examinations, is included in the practice, laboratory tests decrease dramatically and other variables become ineffective. As a result, solutions to reduce laboratory tests greatly reduce inappropriate, unnecessary or inadequate laboratory tests. This situation increases the value of identifying the obstacles to rational laboratory use and investigating the causes and solutions. A multidisciplinary approach should be followed together with physicians, patients, laboratory staff and healthcare professionals, and up-to-date training should be organized, including the medical curriculum. Keywords: Testing, Laboratory, Primary Care, Knowledge, Attitude