Prevention of birth defects in the pre-conception period: knowledge and practice of health care professionals (nurses and doctors) in a city of Southern Brazil

BACKGROUND: Some congenital defects can be prevented in the pregestational stage. However, many health professionals are not prepared to provide counselling to couples regarding the same. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the performance of doctors and nurses from a primary health-care unit in Florianopolis, Brazil, in preventing birth defects in the preconception period based on the recommendations of the Control Center of Disease Prevention. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive cross sectional study was performed at a tertiary referral center. In this study, a semi-structured questionnaire was provided to 160 health professionals comprising doctors and nurses who were actively involved in providing primary health care in family health programs. The non-parametric Chi-square (χ(2)) test was used to analyse the data obtained through multiple choice questions. RESULTS: Our results showed that although 81.9% of health professionals provided health-care assistance based on protocols, and only 46.2% professionals were aware of the presence of the topic in the protocol. Of the recommendations provided by the Control Center of Disease Prevention, the use of folic acid was the most prescribed. However, this prescription was not statistically different between nurses and doctors (P=0.85). CONCLUSION: This study identified the fragile nature in these professional’s knowledge about the prevention of birth defects in pre-conception period, as evidenced by the inconsistency in their responses.