Diagnostic and screening procedures in family practice. Past, present, and future use

OBJECTIVE: This report documents the experience, current practices, and plans of family physicians regarding their use of clinical procedures in diagnosis, screening, and prevention. DESIGN: A mailed survey of family physicians asked who offered or planned to add a variety of clinical procedures in their practices. PARTICIPANTS: Active members of the Washington Academy of Family Physicians. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Does the physician include the procedure in his or her current practice or plan to add it in the future? RESULTS: Questionnaires were returned by 790 (82%) of 963 physicians, with 750 usable responses. Eighty-four percent of respondents were male and 68% had trained for at least 3 years. The median age of respondents was 40 years. Procedures performed by most respondents included the following: Papanicolaou's smear (97%), electrocardiography (80% performed it and 71% interpreted the results), endometrial biopsy (66%), pulmonary function test (61%), rigid sigmoidoscopy (58%), chest roentgenogram interpretation (54%), flexible sigmoidoscopy (52%), performing chest roentgenography (51%), and endocervical curettage (51%). Procedures most often planned to be added by respondents included flexible sigmoidoscopy (59%), colposcopy (30%), endometrial biopsy (23%), pulmonary function test (18%), smoking cessation groups (16%), exercise tolerance test (14%), and fine-needle aspiration biopsy (14%). Forty-two percent of respondents volunteered to teach these procedures to their colleagues. CONCLUSIONS: Family practice includes a wide variety of procedures used in diagnosis, screening, and prevention. Family physicians are eager to add procedures to their practices and to teach their colleagues the procedures they know.