Abstract

Objectives: To assess knowledge of physicians of tertiary care hospital in Baluchistan about schizophrenia.
Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted at Department of Psychiatry, Bolan Medical Complex Hospital, Quetta, Pakistan from January 2011 to January, 2012. One hundred physicians were asked to answer a Proforma consisting of two portions namely, general information and knowledge about schizophrenia.
Results: Out of 100 physicians, 96 were males and 4 female. 2% treated more than 10 patients annually, 3% treated 6-9 patients, 12% treated 3-5 patients and 13% treated 1-2 patients annually while 70% physicians didn’t treat any case of schizophrenia in two years. 6% diagnosed more than 5 new cases, 18% diagnosed 3-5 new cases and 42% diagnosed 1-2 new cases annually while 34% did not diagnose any new case. 44% of physician had good knowledge about schizophrenia while 56% had poor knowledge.
Conclusion: Most of the physicians in our study area had poor knowledge about schizophrenia. (Rawal Med J 2014;39: ).

Key words: Schizophrenia, knowledge, physician.