Knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of family physicians working in primary care about the common benign and malign skin lesions

Objective: To show how well family physicians in Turkey can recognize common benign and malignant skin lesions and how they approach these lesions. Method: It is a cross-sectional analytical study whose population is family physicians from all over Turkey. All family physicians in the provinces selected by stratified random sampling from 12 statistical regions of Turkey were reached via e-mail. In the first and second sections of the questionnaire, general information and dermatological patient applications were questioned, while in the third section, the question of the benign/malignant distinction, including predetermined lesions and cases, and the approach to these lesions were questioned. Lesion images were used with permission from the New Zealand Dermnet website. Research data were evaluated in SPSS (24.0) program. Results: Analyzes were made on 401 participants out of 416 who participated. The mean age of the participants was 48.7±7.5 years, 70.1% (n=281) were male, 7.5% were Specialist Family Physicians. The first of the two lesions of Malignant Melanoma was 65.3% of the participants, the first lesion of basal cell carcinoma 63.6%, the second lesion 79.1%, the second of the two lesions of squamous cell carcinoma 85.8%. they answered wrong. In the mutual analysis of correct/incorrect responses to Seborrheic Keratosis and Malignant melanoma according to the job description, it was seen that Specialist Family Physicians gave correct answers at a much higher rate. (p=0.00, p=0.00) Conclusion: It has been observed that family physicians can distinguish between benign and malignant lesions more clearly compared to malignant and premalignant lesions. It is important for the physician working in the primary care to recognize precancerous and malignant lesions and refer them when necessary, to ensure early diagnosis of these diseases and to increase the survival of the patients. Key words: Malignant skin lesions, Skin cancer, Family medicine