Assessment of professional competencies of Peruvian physicians: A scoping review of published studies.

INTRODUCTION: Evaluating the professional competencies of Peruvian doctors is crucial for proposing necessary improvements. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the specific characteristics and competencies that are assessed in these studies. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to characterize published studies focusing on the assessment of professional competencies among physicians in Peru. METHODS: A comprehensive scoping review was conducted, encompassing scientific journal publications that evaluated the professional competencies of physicians in Peru. The search was performed in PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and SciELO, with the review period extending until 2022. The identified competencies were classified using the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the Ministry of Health of Peru (MINSA) frameworks. The findings were presented using absolute and relative frequency measures. RESULTS: A total of forty-nine studies focused on the assessment of professional competencies among physicians were identified, indicating an upward trend over the years. The primary focus of these studies was on evaluating competencies related to medical knowledge (79.6% according to ACGME classification) and the treatment of health problems (57.1% according to MINSA classification). However, there was a noticeable lack of emphasis on assessing behavioral competencies such as ethics, professionalism, and communication. Most of the included studies (65.3%) were exclusively conducted in Lima. Among the studies that disclosed their funding sources, 61% were self-funded. CONCLUSION: Most studies primarily concentrated on evaluating knowledge-based competencies, specifically in the areas of diagnosis and treatment. There is a scarcity of studies assessing other important competencies. Additionally, centralization and limited funding appear to be areas that require improvement in the evaluation of professional competencies among Peruvian physicians.

Factors associated with poor adherence to medication in patients with diabetes and hypertension in Peru: findings from a pooled analysis of six years of population-based surveys.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the factors associated with poor medication adherence in patients with DM and HTN in Peru. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. METHODS: We analyzed data from the Peruvian Demographic and Family Health Survey from 2014 to 2019. Adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) and their respective 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated to determine the factors associated with poor medication adherence. RESULTS: We included 15,184 participants with a known diagnosis of DM and HTN. The frequency of poor medication adherence was 37.1%, with 36.7% among individuals with HTN and 29.2% among individuals with DM. Those belonging to age groups above 30 years (aPR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.74-0.80, for the group ≥ 60 years) had a lower frequency of poor medication adherence. Meanwhile, being male (aPR: 1.03; 95% CI: 1.01-1.05), lacking health insurance (aPR: 1.08; 95% CI: 1.05-1.10), belonging to lower wealth quintiles (aPR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.08-1.17, for the first quintile), and living in the mountain region (aPR: 1.09; 95% CI: 1.06-1.12) were associated with a higher frequency of poor medication adherence. These findings were consistent when stratifying by the type of disease. CONCLUSION: This study showed that poor medication adherence is common in patients with HTN and DM in Peru and is associated with sociodemographic factors, highlighting the importance of public health approaches to improve adherence.