Physician perspectives on the importance of facts men ought to know about prostate-specific antigen testing.
OBJECTIVE
To determine physicians' rating of the importance of key facts men ought to know about prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening and whether there are differences by specialty.


METHODS
A nationwide random sample of internists, family physicians, and urologists stratified by physician specialty from The Official ABMS Directory of Board-Certified Medical Specialists 2000 Edition.


METHODS
Internists (N = 139), family physicians (N = 160), and urologists (N = 151) were asked to rate how important it is for men to know 17 facts about PSA screening using a 5-point Likert scale.


RESULTS
Of 769 eligible physicians, 450 responded, for an overall response rate of 59%. Urologists and nonurologists differed in rating how important it was for men to know 9 of the 17 key facts. Eight of the nine statements that urologists and nonurologists disagreed upon concerned facts reflecting uncertainty. Nonurologists were more likely than urologists to rate facts reflecting uncertainty as highly important for men to know. These included statements about prostate cancer risk, screening with PSA, and treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite professional guidelines supporting informed decision making, the importance of facts men ought to know about PSA testing differ by physician specialty. Systematic differences may reflect differences in professional guidelines about PSA testing.
Chan
Evelyn C Y
EC
Division of General Internal Medicine (ECYC, FTO, CA), The University of Texas-Houston Medical School, Houston, TX, USA. Evelyn.C.Chan@uth.tmc.edu
Vernon
Sally W
SW
Haynes
Michelle C
MC
O'Donnell
Frederick T
FT
Ahn
Chul
C
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008571:Men / Q000193:education*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012737:Sex Factors; D014572:Urology
D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen