The assessment of physicians' and senior medical students’ knowledge in the field of community-acquired pneumonia: preliminary results of the KNOCAP-II project (2017-2019)

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the most relevant problems of modern medicine. Today, CAP takes 4th place in the structure of mortality (after cardio­vascular, cerebrovascular diseases and malignant neoplasms) and 1st place among all deaths from infectious diseases. The aim of the study is to assess the level of general physician' and senior medical students' basic knowledge in CAP treatment. The article represents the results of anonymous prospective surveys within the framework of the second stage of KNOCAP multi-centered research project (full name of the project «The assessment of physician' and students' knowledge of community-acquired pneumonia basics») aimed at accessing the knowledge and preferences of doctors and students on the fundamental issues in diagnosis and treatment of community-acquired pneumonia. The survey conducted in 2017-2019 involved 588 physicians and 394 students from seventeen Russian, Kyrgyzstan and Ukrainian centers. The method of anonymous questioning was used in this study, for which an original questionnaire was developed on the basis of current clinical recommendations. The following fundamental questions caused the greatest difficulties in the respondents: terms for a repeated X-ray examination in positive dynamics of CAP treatment, the choice of main diagnostic criteria of CAP, the choice of the typical mistakes of CAP treatment, the choice of the initial antimicrobial therapy. In general, the respondents' knowledge in CAP patients' management deviates significantly from the current clinical guidelines, as of 2010, and from the new clinical guidelines draft, 2018-2019. Currently, there is a need to increase the level of knowledge and improve the professional activities of therapists and senior medical students, as a multicenter section of the knowledge and preferences of specialists in many issues revealed their insufficient level for the correct management of patients with CAP.