Prevention practices of family medicine clerkship preceptors in North Carolina.
OBJECTIVE
Before implementing a new prevention curriculum, the authors assessed the prevention practices and attitudes of community family physicians in North Carolina who precepted third-year family medicine clerkship students.


METHODS
An 18-item questionnaire was mailed to 165 preceptors during the 1995-96 academic year. The questionnaire explored the preceptors' levels of preparation to counsel patients, the types of prevention services they offered, and their levels of success in modifying patients' behaviors. The survey was re-sent to non-respondents.


RESULTS
The response rate was 70% (n = 112); of these 75% were men and 55% had graduated after 1987. Over 60% of the preceptors "almost always" offered services in smoking cessation, exercise, diet and nutrition, and age-specific services (range 62-86%). Over 50% felt "very prepared" to counsel patients regarding smoking cessation, sexually transmitted diseases, depression, exercise, alcohol use, and age-specific services (range 53-74%). However, the preceptors in this study felt pessimistic about their success in getting patients to change their behaviors. Preceptors who had graduated more recently offered more preventive services for smoking cessation, alcohol use, and illicit drugs than did earlier graduates.


CONCLUSIONS
Although North Carolina preceptors were pessimistic about their success in changing patients' behaviors regarding prevention, they were confident about their knowledge and skills to provide these services. This information was used to modify a prevention curriculum for third-year medical students.
Slatt
L M
LM
Department of Family Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. slatt@med.unc.edu
Frasier
P Y
PY
Strayhorn
G
G
Kowlowitz
V
V
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D003376:Counseling; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009657:North Carolina; D011231:Preceptorship; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires