Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: We sought to assess the knowledge of adrenal insufficiency among undergraduate healthcare students and pharmacy staff.

Methods: We undertook a cross-sectional UK-wide survey of final year undergraduate student knowledge of AI before and after an online educational intervention. Universities were recruited through the Council of Medical Schools, Council of Pharmacy and Dean of Health Council, whereby surveys were sent out to undergraduates through e-mail. Pre/post intervention data were imported into SPSS for analysis. Qualitative analysis of HCP knowledge was undertaken by semi-structured interviews (2 focus groups, comprising 8 pharmacy staff). Interviews were transcribed and entered into the NVivo system, and analysed using the Theoretical Domains Framework.

Results: The main themes which emerged included concerns on knowledge, memory, attention, decision processes, and environmental context and resources. In total, 9 surveys were returned, 16.7% stating that they confidently recognised the symptoms, increasing to 100% after intervention. Pharmacy staff correctly identified the risk of long-term steroid use in patients, with recognition of sick day rules. Knowledge varied where patients were on multiple steroid medications. All undergraduate respondents indicated the need for additional training before the intervention. Pharmacy staff noted difficulty in remembering what to do in the management of certain patients. Increase from 80% to 100% was noted in knowing where to go for information about AI after the intervention. Responses included pharmacy staff noting that AI is “scary because it’s different”.

Conclusions: The study highlights areas where targeted intervention may be undertaken to reduce AI-related morbidity and mortality, and demonstrates that an online educational intervention has the potential to improve clinical practice. Our data demonstrate the importance of regular education through in-person teaching and additional e-learning. Clear and concise checklists should be made available for all HCPs. Such a cross-disciplinary approach would encourage consistency in management and reduce errors.