Physician attitudes, opinions, and referral patterns: comparisons of those who have and have not taken an allergy/immunology rotation.
BACKGROUND
Interest in the field of allergy/immunology (A/I) is increasing, yet resident training programs are under pressure to shorten elective rotations such as A/I. It is unclear if there are differences between those who have and have not taken an A/I rotation.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate differences in the attitudes, opinions, and referral patterns between physicians who have and have not taken an A/I rotation.


METHODS
An anonymous questionnaire was sent to 375 primary care physicians at one academic medical center. Subjects were separated into 5 cohorts based on specialty and level of training (internal medicine faculty, internal medicine resident, pediatric faculty, pediatric resident, and internal medicine-pediatric resident).


RESULTS
Of the participants, 227 (61.0%) completed the survey. Compared with those who had not taken an A/I rotation, those who had taken an A/I rotation were more likely to feel they knew the types of cases seen by an allergist (75.9% vs 33.3%), to feel they knew an adequate amount about A/I (59.3% vs 19.5%), to feel they were exposed to an adequate amount of A/I during residency (64.8% vs 9.8%), to view immunotherapy as effective (70.0% vs 52.3%), and to have referred a patient to an allergist (77.8% vs 46.0%).


CONCLUSIONS
There are significant differences in the attitudes, opinions, and referral patterns between physicians who have and have not taken an A/I rotation. Allergic diseases are increasing, yet residency training programs are under pressure to shorten rotations such as A/I to accommodate federally mandated work hour restrictions. The potential for inadequate care of allergic diseases may be an important issue if these trends continue.
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Allergy/Immunology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-0380, USA. abaptist@umich.edu
Alan P
AP
Baptist
James L
JL
Baldwin
D000328:Adult; D000486:Allergy and Immunology / Q000193:education*; D001249:Asthma / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002321:Career Choice; D003479:Curriculum; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000523:psychology; D007388:Internal Medicine; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D008824:Michigan; D008875:Middle Aged; D010372:Pediatrics; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires