Conclusions. Analysis of the results revealed significant deficits in travel medicine knowledge among health-care providers. Emphasis on continuing medical education for disease vector behavior, prophylactic drug prescription, and preventative vaccination is important to travel safety. Health professionals in Taiwan should actively participate in the International Society of Travel Medicine to follow the international standard of travel
medicine practitioners. This type of survey should be adopted in other countries which would be helpful in improving the quality of care Ion Channel Ligand Library for travelers. Health-care providers play an essential role in ensuring healthy and safe travel. Although the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM) had tried to encourage the global professional development of travel medicine by promoting the ISTM Certificate of Knowledge Program, many countries, including Taiwan, are still not actively participating in the ISTM.1,2 The frequency of international travel has
increased dramatically, making pre-travel health advice and post-travel health issues the subject of frequent office visits for many health-care professionals.3 Therefore, selleck chemicals health-care providers should have a general knowledge of travel medicine and be able to provide both adequate pre-travel consultation and post-travel care.4 In Taiwan, pre-travel health advice such as yellow fever vaccination and antimalaria drugs are mainly given in 11 hospitals contracted with Center for Disease Control of Taiwan. Sorafenib molecular weight The health professionals
in these hospitals are the main population of travel health providers in Taiwan. The field of travel medicine includes knowledge regarding numerous diseases, epidemiology, and vaccination issues.5,6 The scope of the travel medicine becomes increasingly more complex when factors such as patients’ chronic health issues, changes in disease vectors due to climate and environment change, new medication and vaccine developments, and rising drug resistance are taken into account. Education for health-care providers may not provide adequate training prior to initiating travel-related consultations. As a result, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other health-care professionals may require updates in their knowledge when advising travelers. Many questionnaire survey studies assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practices of travelers,7–9 but there are relatively few studies which aim to assess the knowledge of health-care professionals.10,11 The information obtained from such a study would provide invaluable data for governments and international organizations that could be used to promote the development of travel health profession. Mosquito-transmitted diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, and dengue fever, are commonly discussed during pre-travel counseling.12–15 Basic knowledge about the diseases, vaccines, and preventative medications is important for health professionals.