Using follow-up support with grand rounds CME in community hospitals.

PURPOSE: To determine the proportion of regional primary care physicians who would attend grand rounds on preventive services and their interest in and use of free follow-up enabling and reinforcing assistance to implement changes in their practice routines. METHOD: From January to July 1992 grand rounds on early detection of cancer were offered by Dartmouth Medical School at 38 acute care community hospitals in New Hampshire and Vermont. The target audience of 679 family physicians and general internists was identified through state medical society and hospital attending lists. The hour-long grand rounds program described preventive service guidelines and an office system that promoted their implementation. Follow-up practice support with planning, office staff training, and materials were offered to augment the effects of the grand rounds. Attendance was determined by sign-in documents. In addition, all attendees were asked to complete a survey regarding practice and personal characteristics and interest in follow-up assistance. Statistical comparisons were made using chi square and Fisher's exact tests. RESULTS: In all, 261 family medicine physicians and general internists (38.4%) attended. Certain categories of physicians were more likely to have attended: internists, those younger than 55 years, and physicians on the staffs of hospitals located in small towns. Assistance was requested by 70.1% of the attendees; many requested more than one type of assistance. Physicians from hospitals in smaller towns were more likely to show interest in follow-up assistance and use it when offered. CONCLUSION: Many of the grand rounds attendees were receptive to follow-up assistance that could improve the preventive services they provided. Most hospitals offer grand rounds, and many organizations have interest in and resources for helping physicians provide high-quality care. Future research should establish the best linkage to the actual care provided in practices and explore the relevance of similar approaches to clinical areas beyond prevention.

Physician preventive care philosophy and the five year durability of a preventive services office system.

A group of 30 community physicians who practiced in northeastern United States and who participated in the Cancer Prevention in Community Practice project in 1988 were interviewed five years later. The aim of the interviews was to assess the long-term impact of the preventive services office system which had been introduced by the project. The qualitative analysis of interviews revealed three distinct physician philosophies about the provision of preventive services: a Request Only focus, responding to specific patient inquiries about prevention but taking no initiative to recommend indicated services; a Health Maintenance Visit focus, providing indicated services only during visits specifically scheduled for preventive care; and an Opportunistic Prevention focus, providing indicated preventive services at every chance. Physicians demonstrated these philosophies in their overall view of disease prevention, perceived obstacles to delivery of preventive care, as well as in their continued use of flow sheets and their impression of the value of the Cancer Prevention in Community Practice project. The long-term impact of the office system was the most apparent in the Opportunistic Prevention group. We conclude that the durability of a preventive services office system is influenced by a physician's preventive care philosophy.