Awareness of consensus preventive medicine practice guidelines among primary care physicians.

INTRODUCTION: Since documented low use of preventive medicine practices may be due to lack of acquaintance with recommended practices, we measured the level of awareness of specific consensus recommendations and assessed factors that might influence awareness.

METHODS: We surveyed 326 randomly selected Kansas primary care physicians stratified by urban-rural location and medical specialty (family practice, internal medicine, obstetrics-gynecology, and pediatrics) using a structured computer-assisted interview or questionnaire composed of 11 specialty-specific multiple choice knowledge questions based on selected published consensus recommendations.

RESULTS: With a 90% response rate to our survey, chi 2 testing and analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed (1) correct response rates ranging from 27% (hypertension treatment threshold) to 99% (follow-up mammography) with a correct response rate of at least 70% for seven of the 11 questions; (2) no consistent differences for overall correct response rates among medical specialties and between practice location, gender, years in practice, preventive medicine exposure during residency or through continuing medical education courses, or acquaintance with source publications; and (3) higher correct response rates for six of 11 questions among physicians with board certification.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that low use of prevention practices by physicians is likely due to factors other than lack of physician knowledge of published consensus recommendations.