title: Recruitment and retention of physicians for primary care research.
abstract: The primary objective of this report is to examine factors associated with recruitment of physicians in community-based primary care research. Reported results are based on an observational study of physician recruitment efforts undertaken in a randomized controlled trial designed to improve primary care physicians' cancer screening and counseling activities. The Partners for Prevention project was a statewide randomized controlled trial of primary care physicians selected from the state of Colorado. Two-hundred and ten eligible internal medicine and family medicine practices in both rural and urban community settings of the state of Colorado were selected into this study and a sentinel physician was chosen to represent each practice. Only 6% (13/210) of recruited practices initially declined to participate in the study, but the total refusal rate had reached 30% (59/210) by the time the intervention was implemented five months later. Study participants (n = 136) were younger (mean age 45.7 vs. 50.0, p = 0.008) and more often located in a rural area (46% vs. 31%, p = 0.04) than decliners (n = 59), but there was no association with gender of the physician (87% for females vs. 95% for males, p = 0.13). Participants were more often family practice physicians by training rather than internists (75% vs. 56%, p = 0.008), whereas there was no difference in participation rates by practice type (solo versus group, 60% vs. 64%, p = 0.52). Differences in demographic, geographic, and training characteristics between trial participants and decliners suggest the potential for better targeting of recruitment efforts. Viable strategies for recruiting community-based primary care practices to research studies are proposed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, UAB School of Public Health, Birmingham, AL 35294-0022, USA. bshelton@uab.edu
authors.forename: Brent J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Shelton
authors.forename: James L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Wofford
authors.forename: Carol A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Gosselink
authors.forename: Maureen W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: McClatchey
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Brekke
authors.forename: Colleen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Conry
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wolfe
authors.forename: Stuart J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003120:Colorado; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D010819:Physician's Role; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data