Preventive and other interactional skills of general practitioners, surgeons, and physicians: Perceived competence and endorsement of postgraduate training
A. Girgis et al., Preventive and other interactional skills of general practitioners, surgeons, and physicians: Perceived competence and endorsement of postgraduate training, PREV MED, 32(1), 2001, pp. 73-81
Background. Perceived competencies and support for formal postgraduate trai
ning across a range of preventive and other interactional skills were exami
ned in three medical groups.
Methods. All eligible final year students and recent graduates of the three
major Australian medical colleges (n = 767) were mailed a questionnaire ex
amining communication skills in four domains: preventive, educational, ther
apeutic, and general.
Results. Overall consent rate was 45%. For most items, at least one-third o
f each group reported low competence, On preventive items, low competence r
atings ranged from 5 to 39% in general practice, 38 to 67% in surgery, and
33 to 51% in the speciality physician group, Significant intergroup differe
nces occurred on eight competence items. Agreement with training on prevent
ive topics ranged from 80 to 91% in general practice, 48 to 69% in surgery,
and 72 to 82% in the specialty physician group. On all 11 training items w
here significant differences occurred, the general practice group reported
the highest level and the surgeon group the lowest level of endorsement for
formal training and assessment.
Conclusions. Substantial proportions in the general practice, surgery, and
the physician specialty report lack, of competence in common interactional
skills. There were high levels of support for formal training in preventive
and other interactional skills. The strong endorsement supports the develo
pment of effective, tailored interactional skills training programs. (C) 20
00 American Health Foundation and Academic Press.