Knowledge levels and practices about newborn screening programme of family physicians working in Gaziantep province

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, it was aimed to determine practices and the levels of knowledge about newborn screening of family physicians. Survey form, includes demografics, examinations carried out within the scope of the Neonatal Screening Program and the need to provide education to physicians and families, was applied to 462 family doctors, 87% of targeted participants, working in Şahinbey, Şehitkamil and Oguzeli districts between November 01, 2020 and December 31, 2020. Descriptive statistics, chi square, Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were used in the analysis of the data. When we evaluated family physicians' total examinations; percentage of newborn control examination was 77,1%, percentage of developmental hip dysplasia evaluation was 67,1%. Percantage of family physicians' vision evaluation examination(45%) and hearing assessment examination(32,3%) were found to be low. Average number of newborn control examination made by family physicians was 2,13. The most common reasons of why the control examination were not carried out; 'child has been evaluated by a pediatrician' was 61,3%, 'child has been evaluated by a orthopedist/radiologist' was 70,3, 'child has been evaluated by an ophthalmologist' was 71,4%, 'child has been evaluated by an otolaryngologist' was 64%. In general, knowledge levels of family physicians were found to be low in all examinations. 89,4% of family physicians note that families should be educated about the screening program. As a result, the examinations that should be performed by family physicians within the scope of the Neonatal Screening Program were not performed adequately and specialist physicians' examination was prefered. Due to the lack of information about the screening program, family physicians should be educated.