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Biomedical subjects

D L Rabin

Publications and source records attributed to D L Rabin.

51 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Unannounced simulated patients' observations of physician STD/HIV prevention practices.

Studies describing sexually transmitted disease (STD) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention practices of primary care physicians have relied on physician or patient reports. This study describes physician STD/HIV prevention practices as observed by unannounced simulated patient evaluators (SPEs). SPEs visited sixty-five primary care physicians. Each SPE portrayed a sexually active female, new to the area, requesting a consultation on STD prevention. One-third of the physicians in the study asked no risk questions, and over 80% failed to ask the SPE specifically about her sexual practices. Most physicians discussed the risks of STDs and HIV and covered basic recommendations (use condoms and know partners better); however, few physicians provided any individualized information or advice about safer sexual practices and the specifics of condom use, such as how to use them or what kind to use. These observations support the low rates of STD/HIV prevention indicated in physicians' self-report and further identify specific deficiencies in the thoroughness of their risk assessment and preventive counseling practices.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Primary care physicians' assessment and prevention of HIV infection.

The degree and depth to which primary care physicians counsel patients at risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a major concern. To determine which factors influence whether physicians counsel patients at risk for HIV, primary care physicians's clinical experience, knowledge, attitudes, and preventive counseling advice in hypothetical case scenarios were assessed. Ninety-nine adult primary care physicians in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area were interviewed by telephone from May through November 1987. Ninety-one physicians had tested or referred patients for HIV antibody tests. However, 58% could not name the ELISA or Western blot as the tests. The most frequent HIV prevention recommendations were using condoms (67.7%), abstaining from sexual activity (36.4%), getting tested for HIV (30.3%), and safe sex (23.2%). Naming the HIV antibody tests was the most significant predictor of preventive counseling advice; other significant predictors included physicians' personal comfort with counseling homosexual patients and various physician practice and demographic characteristics. Previous studies showed that homophobia was the main inhibitor of effective AIDS counseling. These results suggest that physicians' lack of knowledge and general discomfort in counseling patients about sexual risk factors, rather than homophobia alone, are important barriers to preventive counseling about HIV infection.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Interrelationships of general internal medicine and preventive/community medicine.

Clinical preventive medicine, efforts by clinicians to prevent disease in individual patients, is an important component of preventive medicine as a whole. Yet clinicians, including internists, apparently do not provide many preventive services of established effectiveness. This paper describes one approach to improving the practice of clinical preventive medicine: increased cooperation between general internists--one of the nation's largest groups of primary care physicians--and specialists in preventive/community medicine. The paper summarizes a larger report prepared by two societies representing these disciplines: the Society for Research and Education in Primary Care Internal Medicine and the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine. It was found that the two disciplines have many common goals, and much to offer each other, but do not often collaborate. The report concludes with 14 recommendations for improving the practice of clinical preventive medicine, which suggest that such improvement can be achieved in part through strengthening working relationships between general internists and preventive/community medicine specialists.

Internal Medicine↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Ambulatory care in the community.

To document the volume and kinds of ambulatory care, particularly primary care, being provided in a medically self-contained community, a survey was conducted in a county in a Middle Atlantic State during the summer of 1974 at all sites where physicians provided ambulatory care. These sites included not only physicians' offices, but also the emergency room, public health clinics, and physician-patient telephone encounters. Primary care was found to constitute 77 percent of all ambulatory care in the county and to account for 96 percent of all visits to primary care physicians. It also accounted for more than 50 percent of the visits to all physicians except the surgical subspecialists. Most of the primary care visits were for common disorders, common procedures, and common preventive measures. Distinct patterns were observed in the primary care morbidity treated by primary care physicians and that treated by specialists--patterns that seemed appropriate for those practices. The specialties of the physicians who were available to the population may have influenced morbidity patterns in the community surveyed. The primary care provided by primary care specialists appeared to differ in some functional aspects from that provided by other specialists.

Adult↗