Abstract
In Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), final diagnosis and choice of treatments depend on specialists. Nevertheless, general practitioners (GP) remain the first line medical help for these patients at home.
A anonymous quiz was send to all GP that were taking care of at least one PAH patient followed in our hospital PAH center to document their degree of knowledge and difficulties in PAH patient management.
60 patients were followed by our PAH center between 2010 and 2012 and fullfilled the diagnosis criteria of PAH. Most of them were initially in NYHA Class III or IV and currently treated with combination therapy. Among the 55 concerned GP, 30 responded. These GP visited their patient 9,6 times per year. Problems concerning PAH were mentionned in 78% of the visits. Most visits (92%) were initially conducted for schedule renewal but in 44% of the cases, GP also had to manage PAH exacerbation. 87% GP reported having some knowledge on PAH. They knew some but not all PAH symptoms (82% cited dyspnea, 4,5% cited weakness). No GP had a good knowledge of specific PAH drugs, except concerning PDE5 inhibitors. Their main information sources on PAH were medical reports of the center (56%), continuing medical education (36%), web (32%). 90% of the GP asked for more informations on PAH. For 60%, this lack of knowledge limits their quality of care. We set up a short support remembering the key points to check at each visit concerning the disease status and the drugs used and the coordinates of the referent specialist.
GP complain about a lack of informations on PAH. A booklet is proposed for helping them in their daily practice.
- © 2013 ERS
