Awareness about breast, cervical and oral cancers among the nursing and paramedical staff of a hospital in central india

BACKGROUND: Breast, cervical and oral cancers are the leading causes of cancers in India. High mortality with these cancers is due to presentation in the advanced stages. In India, doctors practically cannot treat each and every patient due to a huge doctor: patient ratio. In such a situation, nursing and paramedical staff can be helpful in providing their services in identication, screening and diagnosing of these cancers. AIM: The present study was undertaken with an aim to evaluate the awareness of nurses and paramedical staff regarding breast, cervical and oral cancers. STUDY SETTING AND DESIGN: The prospective, observational study was conducted at at Smt. Rajmata Vijyaraje Sindhia Medical College & Hospital, Shivpuri and at District Hospital, Shivpuri. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: 300 nursing and paramedical staff working in the above institutions were enrolled after verbal consenting. A self-administered structured questionnaire was administered to them. After an intervention in the form of discussion, the same questionnaire was readministered. The data from these questionnaires were evaluated and results presented. This questionnaire consisted of sections related to prevention, risk factors, associated symptoms and detection methods. RESULTS: Before intervention, 17.3% participants had knowledge about prevention, 19% about risk factors, 10% about the symptoms and 8% about early detection technique. After intervention, there was an improvement in these domains. The mean post-test knowledge score was signicantly higher than pre-test knowledge score (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Overall we found that nursing and paramedical staff lack knowledge about these three major cancers. After imparting knowledge, there was an improvement in their knowledge. To make these nursing and paramedical staff competent enough to identify, screen, diagnose these cancers, there is requirement of knowledge centers.