[Clinical competence of the family doctor in systemic arterial hypertension].
OBJECTIVE
To establish clinical competence of family physicians to diagnose systemic arterial hypertension and to analyze it's associations with some variables related to working conditions and prior training.


METHODS
The clinical competence was established in a non probabilistic sample of 165 family physicians working in 12 units of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) in Mexico City. We used questionnaire of 160 items (true/false/don't know) to evaluate clinical competence. Association of the scores were explored for work shift (morning/afternoon), working conditions (very favorable/favorable/little favorable/unfavorable) and having been trained in a familiar medicine residency of the IMSS (yes/no).


RESULTS
There were a general low competence to diagnose systemic arterial hypertension (median score of 36 of a possible 160). There were associations of competence with more favorable working conditions (p = 0.005 Kruskal-Wallis test) and with having been trained previously (p = 0.0123 U Mann-Whitney test).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results support the need to continue in this area of research to improve measuring instruments and to identify the modifiers of clinical competence to overcome the deficiencies detected in the present study.
Unidad de Medicina Familiar No. 35, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS), México, D.F.
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A
García Hernández
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L
Viniegra Velázquez
D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D002983:Clinical Competence; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008800:Mexico; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010820:Physicians; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Competencia clínica del médico familiar en hipertensión arterial sistémica.