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

Abstract

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. MannWhitney'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.

Knowledge regarding Metabolic Syndrome and adherence to NCEP-ATP III clinical practice guidelines among physicians in New Providence, The Bahamas

“…Concerning adherence to the NCEP-ATP III guidelines, it was anticipated that at least 65% of participants would be found to adhere to those specific guidelines. This study confirmed that only 53.3% (57) used the NCEP-ATP III diagnostic criteria and further to that, 56% (61) of participants were able to successfully identify the parameters consistent with NCEP-ATP III criteria (Category "C"), and only 35% (38) participants actually screen patients adhering to the NCEP-ATP III guidelines "often" .…”

“…Havakuk et al found that field of practice did not have a significant influence on the results in their study testing health provider MetS knowledge; staff from internal medicine wards performed similarly as staff from surgical departments 53 . In the Mexican study on the development and validation of an instrument to measure family physicians' clinical aptitude in MetS, global aptitude results were very low for family physicians (45.6%) 61 . Internal Medicine and Family…”