Knowledge and confidence in the diagnosis and management of leprosy among Family Medicine Specialists in Malaysia

Background: family medicine specialists (fms) play a pivotal role in the detection of leprosy in primary care. this study determines the knowledge and confidence among fms in malaysia. method: pre-intervention questionnaire was conducted followed by a 3 day educational intervention. post-intervention questionnaire was conducted again 2 months thereafter. the questionnaire assessed knowledge and confidence in the diagnosis and management of leprosy. results: the mean total mark for the pre-intervention knowledge questionnaires was 35.4 out of 50 and the mean confidence was 4.0 out of 10 for diagnosis and 3.3 out of 10 for management. knowledge improved 24.0% post-intervention (p < 0.001). knowledge on pathogenesis and clinical features improved the most with 38.5% and 32.4% respectively whereas knowledge on leprosy reactions improved the least with only 15.1%. the confidence level improved 85% to 7.4 for diagnosis and 118.2% to 7.2 for management post-intervention (p < 0.001). fms with more experience, seeing more than 5 patients in their working life, had better confidence pre-intervention but it became insignificant post-intervention. conclusion: knowledge of fms was good but their confidence was low pre-intervention. they improved significantly post-intervention. it is hoped that the improvement can allow for earlier detection of leprosy to prevent clinical and epidemiological sequelae.