title: Musculoskeletal workload versus musculoskeletal clinical confidence among primary care physicians in rural practice.
abstract: We studied the prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions in a rural Oregon primary care practice and the self-assessed musculoskeletal knowledge and skills of primary physicians practicing in the area. We recorded how many musculoskeletal complaints were evaluated and treated in a primary care physician's office between April 1 and April 30, 2002. In addition, to all primary care physicians in the surrounding county, we distributed a self-administered questionnaire assessing physician confidence regarding common musculoskeletal conditions and procedures. Prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions for the month was 17.5% (48/274 office visits). Questionnaire results indicated that local physicians felt relatively uncomfortable with common musculoskeletal conditions (mean confidence scores on a 10-point Likert scale: 4.2, musculoskeletal conditions; 9.0, nonmusculoskeletal medical conditions). These findings suggest a disparity between rural primary care physicians' self-assessed musculoskeletal knowledge and skill and the levels they require for their practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: Gregory C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.forename: Rex R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Parsons
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D002983:Clinical Competence; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D009922:Oregon / Q000453:epidemiology; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018570:Risk Assessment; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017749:Total Quality Management; D016526:Workload