Knowledge regarding diabetes among students of the final year of medicine in Poland

Zuzanna Gosławska¹, Przemyslawa Jarosz-Chobot¹, Maria Szczepańska², Agnieszka Szadkowska³, Iwona Pietrzak³, Pawel Piątkiewicz⁴, Malgorzata Bernas⁵, Joanna Polanska⁶, Agata Chobot⁷ 

¹Department of Children’s Diabetology, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland - ²Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland- ³Medical University of Lodz, Department of Pediatrics, Diabetology, Endocrinology & Nephrology, Lodz, Poland - ⁴Collegium Medicum, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw, Poland - ⁵Department of Internal Medicine and Diabetology, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland, Poland - ⁶Department of Data Sciences and Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland ^{- 7}Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Opole, Poland

Introduction: There is a rising number of people with diabetes worldwide. It was the first non-infectious disease to be acknowledged by the Word Health Organization as an epidemy. This is the first study to assess basic diabetes-related knowledge among students of the final year of medicine in Poland.

Materials and methods: Medical students from: Medical University of Silesia (Schools of Medicine in Katowice(34%) and Medicine with the Division of Dentistry in Zabrze(32%)), Medical University of Warsaw(12%) and Medical University of Lodz(22%) completed an anonymous questionnaire (519 responses (63.8% women); response rate 68.7%). The survey covered five questions concerning the respondent and 25 concerning basic diabetological knowledge covered by the curriculum (based on current recommendations by Diabetes Poland).

Results: The mean total score was 20.92±3.9 (highest: 25). 96% of respondents participated in diabetology classes. Only 5.39% were willing to specialize in diabetology. 31% described themselves as poorly/not at all prepared to take care of patients with diabetes. 3% were not aware that Type 1 diabetes is presently incurable and 16% - that these patients require insulin even when fasting. 5% would use insulin to treat hypoglycemia. In contrast to factors such as gender, diabetes in the student’s family or their willingness to specialize in diabetology, only the self-assessed level of preparedness to take care of patients with diabetes and participation in diabetological classes seemed to have influenced the knowledge of the students significantly.  

Conclusions: Medical students should be prepared to deal with diabetes as an epidemiologically important issue. There is a constant need for improving the knowledge of Polish students regarding diabetes.