Does Trainee Involvement Affect Anticipatory Guidance in Well-Child Care?

Abstract

Studies demonstrate gaps in anticipatory guidance during well-child visits, but none consider academic teaching hospitals where physician trainees also provide counseling. We prospectively assessed parental perception of anticipatory guidance at the outpatient clinic of an academic teaching hospital. Parents of patients newborn to <60 months old completed questionnaires regarding providers seen and anticipatory guidance preferences. Of 204 parents, 40% saw the child's primary attending alone. There was no association between providers seen and the number of topics covered. Seeing the child's primary attending alone increased the odds that parents' priority topics were covered compared with another attending (odds ratio [OR] = 0.31; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.11-0.90) or the addition of a resident (OR = 0.35; 95% CI = 0.16-0.77) or medical student (OR = 0.33; 95% CI = 0.12-0.90). Priority anticipatory guidance is covered only one third as often when the well-child visit is not conducted by the primary attending. When involving trainees, continuity of care and parental concerns must be emphasized.