Continuing medical education about postexposure prophylaxis of rabies in tribal area medical college hospital of Gujarat, India: One step towards rabies elimination

BACKGROUND: Continuing Medical Education (CME) is an essential feature of the clinical practice and helps to improve the health care provider’s ability to provide quality patient care. The World Health Organization has given a global strategic plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030 known as “Zero by thirty.” METHODOLOGY: A CME session was organized for staff nurses working in a tertiary medical care hospital of Valsad district about anti rabies vaccination. Ninety-one participants were administered the questionnaire about antirabies vaccine (ARV) and related practical aspects before and after the CME session. RESULTS: Mean pre- and post-CME Score of the participants was 5.38 and 8.68 out of 10, respectively which was statistically significant. The majority of the participants could score from 5 to 6 (33, 36.2%) before CME which rose to 9 to 10 after CME (58, 63.7%). A total of 52 participants (57%) showed improvement in total score by more than 5 points after attending CME, whereas 13 (14%) showed no improvement. The maximum improvement (52.1%) was found in the fact that currently available vaccine vials are the same for intradermal (ID) and intramuscular (IM) regimes, followed by the need for immunoglobulins in category III animal bites (44.3%). CONCLUSION: CME showed significant improvement in knowledge regarding rabies and antirabies vaccination. The knowledge regarding the similar schedule for both adults and children needs improvement. Subsequent CME programs should focus on these aspects for the effective management of animal bite patients.