Ob/Gyn Residency Programs: How Will We Train Primary Care Physicians? How Will We Document it?.

This study\u27s objective was to determine how primary care data can be incorporated into residency data collection efforts to document primary care training in light of the specialty\u27s current direction. A survey was sent to program directors of 272 accredited residency programs in the United States and Canada to assess resident data collection. The survey included a determination of methods for accurately collecting primary care data. As part of the larger grant funded residency data collection project for our department, we developed a paperless closed loop data collection system that included standard ob/gyn primary care related procedure and diagnosis specific data. Of the 272 accredited programs surveyed, 144 (52.9%) responded. Only 8.3% (12) of program directors indicated having a method for collecting any primary care data. Using our new data collection system over a 6-month period, our program was able to document primary care encounters such as smoking cessation, nutrition counseling, and immunizations. Based on these data, it would be possible to adjust either the program or an individual resident\u27s clinical experience. As increasing numbers of residency programs begin to incorporate primary care into their training programs, the ability to record patient encounters in a database including hypertension, diabetes, substance abuse, smoking cessation, general health screening, wellness counseling, and other non-gynecologic problems will be crucial to document primary care training. Similarly, such procedures as immunizations, breast aspirations, and sigmoidoscopy could be documented