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PubMed1998

A process for developing a rural training track.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This article describes the process used by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Family Practice Residency Program to establish its first rural training track (RTT) in Baraboo, Wis. The process includes 1) establishing a core planning group to develop rural site selection criteria with specifications on distance traveled, faculty composition, teaching commitment, rural hospital capabilities, and availability of subspecialty teaching, 2) involvement of the state Area Health Education Center, 3) budget planning, 4) telecommunications plans, including e-mail, library search, and Internet connectivity, 5) creation of a residency curriculum in collaboration with the rural site's faculty and staff, 6) preparing an accreditation document to submit to the Residency Review Committee, and 7) faculty development programs for rural faculty. The program then participates in the National Residency Matching Program with an independent Match number.

Accreditation↗

PubMed1993

Frequency and determinants of screening for breast cancer in primary care group practice.

BACKGROUND: Many studies reporting the frequency of breast cancer screening have been based only on physician and patient surveys or on data from quality assurance studies and do not assess the reliability of information obtained from these various sources. METHODS: To obtain more complete data we studied mammography performed in a 3-year period, 1988 through 1991, in 24 nonacademic primary care group practices by both auditing the medical records and obtaining questionnaire responses from 1819 women aged 53 to 62 years and from their 98 physicians in the nonmetropolitan Midwest. RESULTS: Medical record data indicated that mammography was performed in all 3 years in 16.7%, in at least two of 3 years in 49.8%, and in at least one of 3 years in 81.7% of women. While patient reports of a family history of breast cancer, health insurance coverage for mammography, and greater annual household income were each significant predictors, a patient report that a clinic staff member had discussed mammography was the strongest predictor of greater frequency of mammography. CONCLUSIONS: In this study of self-selected physicians and their patients, record-documented mammographic examinations were considerably more frequent than has been reported in some studies, but occurred at rates consistent with quality assurance data for the region. These data suggest that clinic staff initiatives with screening mammography have a large impact.

Breast Neoplasms↗