[Pre-eclampsia, eclampsia: clinical aptitude on primary attention].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical aptitude in preeclampsy and eclampsy attention in medical personnel that work in first level of attention. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional, prospective comparative study was performed to compare the clinical aptitude in pre-eclampsy and eclampsy attention in family practice physicians. A questionnaire comprising four clinical real cases, that belong to maternal death cases developed in the previous year of the study, was applied to 77 doctors that work at a familiar medicine unit. This questionnaire was formed by 109 statements, 54 were true correct answers and 55 were false correct answers. To compare the clinical aptitude among the group of physicians evaluated, a Kruskal-Wallis and U Mann-Whitney tests were used. RESULTS: In general any difference were observed in the clinical aptitude in pre-eclampsy and eclampsy according to the obtained academic degree and the antiquity at work (p = NS). The clinical aptitude level identified was the mean level, with a medium of 57 to 74 of a theoretical total of 109. CONCLUSIONS: The development grade about clinical aptitude that present family practice physicians was not the desirable, for the optimal attention in this pathology.