title: Primary care practitioners' understanding of physiatric practice: effects on intention to refer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To learn what family practice and internal medicine physicians understand about the scope of practice of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) and to study what effect that understanding and various demographic variables have on their intention to refer to physiatrists.
  
  
  METHODS
  Survey-based.
  
  
  METHODS
  National survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  One thousand internal medicine and family practice physicians were contacted, with 460 respondents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Not applicable.
  
  
  METHODS
  Intention to refer patients to physiatrists using 13 case scenarios (10 appropriate referrals, 4 inappropriate referrals) and self-reported number of referrals per year associated with understanding of 7 skills of physiatrists analyzed by multiple logistic regression analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although most respondents were likely to refer to physiatrists, a wide variation existed in the types of patients referred. Physicians with a greater understanding of the scope of physiatric practice were more likely to refer ( P =.003). Female physicians were more likely to refer than male physicians ( P =.003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There appears to be an association between an understanding of physiatric practice and primary care practitioners' willingness to refer to PM&R. Primary care physicians should be educated about the benefits of referring patients to physiatrists.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Christiana Care Health System, Newark, DE, USA.
authors.forename: Cristin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McKenna
authors.forename: Neil J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Farber
authors.forename: Kelly S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Eschbach
authors.forename: Virginia U
authors.initials: VU
authors.lastname: Collier
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010810:Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000523:psychology*; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires