Page 8 - Portuguese Journal - SPORL - Vol 61. Nº2

this trend became more pronounced as a All answers submitted between October 1 and
result of the high number of patients requiring
prolonged intubation .
6, 7
The complications associated with tracheostomy
are well described, with a significant proportion
being attributable to preventable causes .
2,8
Some authors argue that these complications
can be mitigated by adequate training of
healthcare professionals that have contact
with these patients . In fact, several studies
8
have shown that specialists other than
otorhinolaryngologists and head and
neck surgeons feel very uncomfortable
when providing care to patients with a
tracheostomy 4, 9, 10 .
Some of these insecurities may be explained
by gaps in their medical training 10, 11 .
Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate
the knowledge of newly qualified doctors
on tracheostomy in Portugal, as well as
the provision of care to patients with a
tracheostomy.
Materials and Methods
This cross-sectional observational study
involved the online administration of an
anonymous questionnaire to doctors who
were in their “Internato de Formação Geral”
(IFG) in Portugal in 2022.
The questionnaire was composed of two
sections. The aim of the first section was
to collect information on the participants’
sociodemographic characteristics and
assess the type of experience they had with
tracheostomy both during the medical course
and IFG.
The aim of the second section was to evaluate
their theoretical and practical knowledge
of tracheostomy through eight multiple-
choice questions, some of which were in the
clinical vignette format. These questions were
developed and subsequently validated by five
specialists in otorhinolaryngology and head
and neck surgery at the Hospital Pedro Hispano.
The questionnaire was shared through Google
Forms by email with the Medical Residency
boards of several Portuguese hospitals who
were asked to distribute it to their residents.
150 Portuguese Journal of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
October 30 of 2022 were accepted.
The statistical analysis of the results was
performed using the SPSS software – version 28
(SPSS inc., Chicago IL., USA). The means were
compared using the t-test for independent
samples and one-way ANOVA. The level of
significance was set at p=0.05.
Results
In the present study, the answers of 132
participants, most of whom were women
(n=95; 72.0%), were analyzed. The median age
of the respondents was 25 years.
We obtained answers from doctors trained
in all medical schools in Portugal and from
seven doctors who had trained abroad. The
most represented Portuguese medical school
in our sample was the University of Coimbra,
with a total of 29 answers (22%) from doctors
who had completed their studies in this
institution, followed by the medical schools
of the University of Porto and University of
Lisbon, each with a total of 22 answers (16.7%).
Most doctors who participated in this study
completed their medical course in 2021 (n=121,
91.7%). All participants were in their IFG in 2022
and from all the Regional Health Authorities
(ARSs) in the country, with the North Authority
(ARS Norte) being the most represented in
our sample (n=51; 38.6%). Table 1 describes in
detail the sociodemographic data of the study
participants. With regard to the evaluation of
training in tracheostomy during the medical
course, 74.2% (98/132) of the participants
answered “No” to the question “Did you
receive any training in tracheostomy during
the medical course?” Only 18,2% (24/132) of the
respondents answered “Yes” to this question
and the remaining 7.6% (10/132) answered
“Don’t know/ No answer” (Figure 1).
Of those who reported having received some
type of training in tracheostomy during the
medical course, 79.2% (19/24) only received
theoretical training, 16.7% (4/24) received
theoretical and practical training, and only
one (4.2%) received practical training alone.
With regard to the course unit (“Unidade