title: A comparison between physicians and demographically similar peers in accessing personal health care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Residents are a unique subpopulation of physicians, training in a complex work and educational environment that may create barriers to accessing preventive and illness-related health care. This study was designed to investigate residents' utilization of personal health care services and compare with those of demographically similar peers.
  
  
  METHODS
  All 675 residents in a large, urban, tertiary care U.S. academic medical center were invited to participate in a confidential, Web-based, cross-sectional survey in January 2008. Survey responses to questions addressing personal health care were compared with those of a demographically similar group using the 2008 survey from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The final weights in BRFSS were used for a post hoc stratified adjustment in analysis. Logistic regression was employed to compare subgroups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-six percent of residents completed the survey. A significantly lower percentage of residents reported having a primary care provider (44%) or dentist (65%) or having routine health and dental care visits (39% and 53%, respectively) within the past year than those in the demographically similar group of 2008 BRFSS. In that group, 83% reported having a primary care provider, and 63% and 79% reported having routine primary and dental health care visits, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The residents were significantly less likely than demographically similar peers to have a primary care provider or dentist or to participate in routine health maintenance. Further research into barriers preventing residents from accessing health care, and opportunities to address them, is needed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Graduate Medical Education, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Cedfeldt
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Bower
authors.forename: Tana A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Grady-Weliky
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Flores
authors.forename: Donald E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Girard
authors.forename: Dongseok
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D040343:Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010379:Peer Group; D010548:Personal Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States