Insights of primary health care providers regarding opportunistic screening of oral cancer/precancers in Patna, Bihar.

Background: Clinical opportunistic screening can be valuable for diagnosis of oral cancer/precancer prior to development of symptoms. Thus, the aim of the present study is to assess the knowledge, perceptions, and present practices of primary health care providers regarding oral cancer screening.

Material And Methods: This cross-sectional questionnaire study was carried out on doctors working in primary health centres of Patna district, Bihar. A total of 10 questions in true/false or multiple choice format assessed the knowledge on oral cancer screening. Attitude and practices were evaluated by seven questions each on a 5-point Likert scale. Unpaired -test and one-way ANOVA followed by test was applied to determine the significance difference between the mean scores of knowledge and demographic variables. The significance level was set at below 0.05.

Results: The total mean knowledge scores were 6.5 ± 2.17. Response analysis showed that regarding opinion on only 28% health care providers agreed or strongly agreed that they have adequate knowledge regarding detection of oral cancer. It was found that 44.7% never/rarely examined the oral cavity of the patient. Only 14% and 16% doctors aid with the cessation of habits and advised dietary changes in patients with precancerous lesions/conditions, respectively.

Conclusion: Capacity building of primary care physicians is very crucial for a successful screening program. The present study reveals that the training activities of healthcare providers in oral screening need to be reinforced.