Accessing medical knowledge on hidradenitis suppurativa: the impact of continuing medical education on portuguese doctors

Tomás Pessoa e Costa, Departmentof Dermatology and Venereology, Unidade Local de Saúde São José, Lisbon, Portugal Inês Aparício-Martins, Departmentof Dermatology and Venereology, Unidade Local de Saúde São José, Lisbon, Portugal Joana Cabete, Departmentof Dermatology and Venereology, Unidade Local de Saúde São José, Lisbon, Portugal

Objective: This study aimed to assess Portuguese physicians’ baseline knowledge of Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) and evaluate the role of continuous medical education. Methods: A digital continuing education course was created, featuring a lecture and an 8-question assessment. From the 1503 physicians enrolled, a control group of 501 physicians was randomly selected to complete the questionnaire before the course. After the course, the questionnaire was sent to all physicians who attended the lecture and were not part of the control group (381 physicians). Results: We collected 131 responses from the control group and 38 from the intervention group. The educational intervention significantly improved physicians’ knowledge, as evidenced by higher total scores in intervention group (mean: 90.00) compared to the control group (mean: 79.22; p < 0.001). The question regarding the importance of specialist referral showed the greatest improvement, with 89.5% correct responses in the intervention group versus 65.6% in control group (p = 0.004). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that continuing educational interventions can effectively contribute to improve medical knowledge about HS, particularly concerning appropriate patient referral.

Keywords: Hidradenitis suppurativa. Continuous medical education. Digital medical education.