TELEPHONE MANAGEMENT-TRAINING IN INTERNAL-MEDICINE RESIDENCIES - A NATIONAL SURVEY OF PROGRAM DIRECTORS

Background. Little is known about how internal medicine residents trai n for and practice telephone management. To address this deficiency, a national survey of pro gram directors at accredited internal medicine training sites was conducted to evaluate residents' training for and practice of telephone medicine. Method. A 43-item questionnaire was ma iled in December 1993 to all program directors at the 416 accredited i nternal medicine training sites in the United States. A limited questi onnaire, regarding the most essential training questions, was mailed t o all non-responders. Results. The response rate was 60% (250) for the full questionnaire. Only 15 (6%) of the programs offered formal train ing in telephone management to their residents. This training usually consisted of single lectures (nine programs) or reading materials (sev en programs). The respondents felt that formal training in telephone m anagement was very important (155, 62%) and that such training should be a part of every internal medicine curriculum (150, 60%). Conclusion . Few internal medicine programs offered training in telephone managem ent. When training occurred, it was usually limited and informal, Most program directors felt that training was important and that current t raining efforts were unsatisfactory, emphasizing the need for curricul um development and implementation in telephone management.