Abstract

Background and Aims: Acute pancreatic is a severe medical emergency requiring hospitalization with intensive care. Understanding the disease pattern helps in early diagnosing and adequately managing to prevent serious complications. Therefore, the current study aimed to study the difference in awareness and knowledge among students of health-related departments at Umm Al-Qura University.

Methods: An online survey was distributed among students in September 2021. All health-related students were invited to contribute to this survey through online social media channels. This study compares the level of knowledge of acute pancreatitis.

Results: 372 health-related students were surveyed, the mean age of participants was 22.79 years (SD= 1.45), and the 23–25-year age group was predominant. The majority of respondents were male and single. College of Medicine was the most responded college and 5th-year health-related students were predominant. The majority of students have a good level of awareness compared to their level of knowledge. Male participants show a significant variation in knowledge of ‘’Signs and physical examination’’ and ‘’Diagnosis workup’’ (P value, 0.001 and 0.006, respectively). A significant association was shown between students’ academic year and ‘’Overviews: - causes, symptoms, and risk factors’’, ‘’Signs and physical examination’’, ‘’Diagnosis workup’’, and ‘’ER-managements’’.

Conclusion: Early diagnosis and intervention of Acute Pancreatitis are vital to prevent a series of complications. Our findings suggest that students were not acquainted with basic interventional knowledge of Acute Pancreatitis, a demand for further investigations.

Key words: Acute Pancreatitis, knowledge, health-related students, Saudi Arabia