Development and validation of an instrument to measure family physicians' clinical aptitude in metabolic syndrome in Mexico

Objective. The purpose of this work was to measure family physicians' clinical aptitude for the diagnosis and treatment of metabolic syndrome in a representative sample from six Family Medicine Units (UMF) at the Mexican Institute for Social Security (IMSS), in Guadalajara, Jalisco, México. Material and Methods. This is a cross-sectional study. A validated and structured instrument was used, with a confidence coefficient (Kuder-Richardson) of 0.95, that was applied to a representative sample of 90 family physicians throughout six UMFs in Guadalajara, between 2003 and 2004. Mann-Whitney's U and Kruskal-Wallis' tests were used to compare two or more groups, and the Perez-Viniegra Test was used to define aptitude development levels. Results. No statistically significant differences were found in aptitude development between the six family medicine units groups and other comparative groups. Conclusions. The generally low level of clinical aptitude, and its indicators, reflects limitations on the part of family physicians at the IMSS in Jalisco to identify and manage metabolic syndrome