KNOWLEDGE AND TRAINING GOALS OF PRIMARY CARE AND REGULAR INTERNS

Abstract

As part of the long-term evaluation of BCH'a primary care residency program, entering interns in pediatrics (N=13) and medicine (N=36) are assessed to see whether there are significant differences between primary care (PC) and regular trainees (PC) as they begin residency. Areas of assessment include cognitive knowledge (scores on the American Board of Pediatrics Pretest Exam, and Parts B and C of the American Board of Internal Medicine's Certifying Exam), and a training goals questionnaire. Aggregating board scores for 3 cohorts ( N=147 ), median distribution analysis shows no consistent differences between PC and PC pediatric interns. For the 3 medicine cohorts, no consistent differences emerged on Part B (factual recall knowledge), while on Part C (patient management) PC interns scored somewhat lower as a group than PC interns. An important finding from the training goals questionnaire (1974, 1975) is the high degree of comparability among PC and PC interns, Including similarity between cohorts and between departments. One difference was the interest of 17/28 PC medicine interns in subspecialty and research training. These findings tend to contravene the suggestion that those entering primary care have different attitudes and cognitive knowledge than their peers in traditional pathways. Further evaluation will show whether significant differences do develop between PC and PC trainees during their 3-year residency.