Improving the recognition and management of XXXX : is there a role for physician education?

@entity1 @entity308
BACKGROUND: Many @entity1 who visit primary care physicians suffer from @entity308 , but physicians may miss the diagnosis or undertreat these @entity1 . Improving physicians' communication skills pertaining to diagnosing and managing @entity308 may lead to better outcomes. METHODS: We performed a randomized controlled trial involving 49 primary care physicians to determine the effect of the @entity308 Education Program on their knowledge of @entity308 and their behavior toward @entity308 @entity1 . After randomization, physicians in the intervention group completed the @entity308 Education Program, which consists of 2 4-hour interactive workshops that combine lectures, discussion, audiotape review, and role-playing. Between sessions, physicians audiotaped an interview with one of their @entity1 . Two to 6 weeks following the intervention program, physicians completed a knowledge test and received office visits from 2 unannounced @entity1 acting as standardized @entity1 with @entity308 . These " @entity1 " completed a checklist and scales. Logistic and linear regression were used to control for sex, specialty, and suspicion that the @entity1 was a standardized @entity1 . RESULTS: For both standardized @entity1 , more intervention physicians than control physicians asked about stresses at home, and they also scored higher on the Participatory Decision-Making scale. During the office visits of one of the standardized @entity1 , more intervention physicians asked about at least 5 criteria for @entity308 (82% and 38%, P = .006), discussed the possibility of @entity308 (96% and 65%, P = .049), scheduled a return visit within 2 weeks (67% and 33%, P = .004), and scored higher than control physicians on the @entity1 Satisfaction scale (40.3 and 35.5, P = .014). CONCLUSIONS: The @entity308 Education Program changed physicians' behavior and may be an important component in the efforts to improve the care of @entity308 @entity1 .
