Muhammad Jahangir, Tariq Zaman, Tariq Rashid.
Dermatological literacy among medical graduates.
J Pak Assoc Derma Jan ;14(4):189-92.

Background: Patients with skin ailments are frequently mismanaged at primary care level. One reason might be inadequate knowledge of medical graduates about skin diseases. Objective: Evaluation of dermatological literacy of our medical graduates. Methods: 198 doctors graduating in year 2000 & onwards during 1st year of house job serving in various hospitals of Lahore having no post-graduation clinical experience in dermatology were enrolled. They attempted a questionnaire consisting of matching, true/false, and single best response pertaining to common dermatoses. Those securing more than 50% marks were considered successful. Results: Of 198 medical graduates, only 52 (26%) could get more than 50 % marks. Misconceptions were frequent, 54% thought marriage cures acne, 60% considered that calcium deficiency causes pityriasis alba. Conclusion: Dermatological knowledge of medical graduates is highly inadequate. Furthermore, misconceptions are frequent.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com