title: Barriers to provision of obstetric services by family physicians in Louisiana.
abstract: The purpose of this paper is to identify family physicians' perceived barriers to providing obstetrical services in Louisiana. A questionnaire was sent to 585 active members of the Louisiana Academy of Family Physicians; 308 (52.5%) were returned. Only 10.4% currently provide obstetric services; 56.4% did so in the past. Physicians in urban practices were significantly more likely to offer obstetric services than those in rural practices (13.9% and 6.7%). The most common barriers related to the cost of malpractice insurance and protection from legal liability (32.8%), followed by lack of coverage (19.7%), not having enough time (12.8%), and lifestyle protection (11.3%). Respondents who provided obstetric care in the past were not significantly more likely to identify the cost of malpractice insurance as a barrier than those who had never provided OB services (35.9% and 29.1%). Barriers to providing obstetric services by Louisiana's family physicians result in only 1 in 10 doing so despite the emphasis given to obstetrics in their residency programs.
authors.affiliation: Family Practice Residency Program, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Alexandria, Louisiana, USA.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Madden
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Moore
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003625:Data Collection; D005194:Family Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007351:Insurance, Liability / Q000191:economics; D008145:Louisiana; D008318:Malpractice / Q000191:economics; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D009774:Obstetrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011247:Pregnancy; D012424:Rural Population; D014505:Urban Population