title: Primary care house staff attitudes toward osteoporosis management.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study assessed possible institutional and patient-related factors influencing the delivery of postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO) care and the diagnostic priority placed on addressing PMO, relative to other common medical conditions, by primary care house staff at our institution.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire was designed and distributed to eligible house staff at our institution.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Approximately 50% (n = 52) of the house staff participated. The supervising clinic attending, patients' lack of insurance, accessibility to medical care, comorbid conditions, and university formulary were reported to influence decisions regarding osteoporosis care. Osteoporosis was ranked 6th of 7 medical issues (hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, adult immunizations, osteoporosis, thyroid disease) to address during a comprehensive medical visit.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our institution's primary care house staff reported multiple influences on decision making regarding osteoporosis care, and an overall low priority to address this issue. Based on PMO's associated morbidity and mortality, primary care training programs are challenged to put resources toward optimizing house staff delivery of osteoporosis care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Terry A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: McNearney
authors.forename: Angela J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Shepherd
authors.forename: Ajoy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chhabra
authors.forename: Niti
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Goel
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000628:therapy*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires