Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Robyn Tamblyn

Publications and source records attributed to Robyn Tamblyn.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2003

Measuring differences between patients' and physicians' health perceptions: the patient-physician discordance scale.

We report on the development and validation of an instrument to assess discordance between physicians and their patients on evaluations of health-related information: the Patient-Physician Discordance Scale (PPDS). The 10-item questionnaire is designed to be employed across chronic diseases and can be used in clinical practice and research. It measures the extent of patient-physician discordance on five aspects of the patient's health status and five aspects of the office visit. A prospective study with 200 outpatients with inflammatory bowel disease and their treating physicians revealed that the 10-item discordance scores had good construct validity and satisfactory convergent validity. Overall discordance and the three subscales, discordance on symptoms and treatment, well-being, and communication and satisfaction, identified by factor analysis, had acceptable internal consistency. Patient and physician ratings demonstrated moderate-to-high concurrent validity. Study limitations and directions for future research with PPDS are discussed.

Abdominal Pain↗
PubMed2003

Physician and practice characteristics associated with the early utilization of new prescription drugs.

BACKGROUND: Prescription of new drugs contributes to substantial increases in annual drug expenditures. A small proportion of physicians appear to be early users of new prescription drugs and little is known about their characteristics. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the initial utilization rate of new prescription drugs among physicians, and the physician and practice characteristics associated with early use. DESIGN: Cumulative prospective assessment over a 5 year period (1989-1994) of new drug utilization rates in a randomly selected cohort of Quebec physicians. PARTICIPANTS: 1661 physicians and 669,867 elderly patients. OUTCOME: Prescribing rate of 20 new drugs, in 6 therapeutic categories, to elderly patients in the first 6 months after inclusion in the Quebec formulary. RESULTS: The 20 new drugs were prescribed by 1.3-22.3% of physicians, and there was an 8 to 17-fold difference in new drug utilization rates among prescribers. Characteristics associated with higher rates of utilization differed for general practitioners and specialists. Male general practitioners, and physicians graduating from the most recently established medical school in the province, had higher rates of new drug utilization, whereas recent graduation was only associated with higher utilization rates among specialists. Practice volume was associated with higher rates of utilization among GPs. For both GPs and specialists, having a high proportion of elderly in one's practice and a rural or remote practice location was associated with lower utilization rates. CONCLUSIONS: Physician sex, specialty, medical school, years since graduation, practice location, volume, and relative proportion of elderly in the physician's practice influence the utilization of new drugs.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2003

Factors associated with pattern of care before surgery for breast cancer in Quebec between 1992 and 1997.

BACKGROUND: Practice guidelines for breast cancer emphasize the importance of establishing an accurate diagnosis using a minimum number of procedures and selecting optimal treatment regimens. Understanding the determinants of waiting time is essential to develop optimum interventions to reduce delay. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to estimate the extent to which variability in 1) the number of procedures before surgery and 2) waiting time from initial procedure to surgery are explainable by factors related to the woman, to the provider, and to the care setting. RESEARCH DESIGN: Records of physicians' fee-for-service claims were obtained for 23,370 women undergoing breast cancer surgery in Quebec between 1992 and 1997. Multilevel logistic regression was used to determine predictors of having multiple procedures before surgery. Hierarchical linear regression models were used to identify predictors of waiting time, separately for women with lymph node involvement and without this involvement. RESULTS: Overall, 23% of the women had 3 or more procedures before surgery with significant variation found across hospitals and surgeons. Number of procedures was a strong predictor of waiting time. Waiting time also varied by stage, age, comorbidity, a history of benign disease, surgical setting, calendar time, month of initial procedure, and hospital teaching status. CONCLUSION: Although variability in waiting time was more strongly influenced by the characteristics of the women rather than by physician- or hospital-related factors, most variation remained unexplained by the factors included in this study. To reduce overall waiting time, strategies would need to be systemically applied.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

A workflow model for adapting e-charts in specialty clinics.

Modeling of health professionals' activities and matching of these processes to applied information technologies are necessary for acceptance and optimal utilization of a clinical information system. The overall objective of this study was to describe the different processes involved in current clinical practice of neurologists and to estimate the extent by which these processes are standardised across neurologists. Results from this study will be used to optimise the deployment of a stroke e-record and provide insight on some of the characteristics that will need to be addressed.

Ambulatory Care Facilities↗
PubMed2002

Association between licensure examination scores and practice in primary care.

CONTEXT: Standards for licensure are designed to provide assurance to the public of a physician's competence to practice. However, there has been little assessment of the relationship between examination scores and subsequent practice performance. OBJECTIVE: To determine if there is a sustained relationship between certification examination scores and practice performance and if licensing examinations taken at the end of medical school are predictive of future practice in primary care. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A total of 912 family physicians, who passed the Québec family medicine certification examination (QLEX) between 1990 and 1993 and entered practice. Linked databases were used to assess physicians' practice performance for 3.4 million patients in the universal health care system in Québec, Canada. Patients were seen during the follow-up period for the first 4 years (1993 cohort of physicians) to 7 years (1990 cohort of physicians) of practice from July 1 of the certification examination to December 31, 1996. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mammography screening rate, continuity of care index, disease-specific and symptom-relief prescribing rate, contraindicated prescribing rate, and consultation rate. RESULTS: Physicians achieving higher scores on both examinations had higher rates (rate increase per SD increase in score per 1000 persons per year) of mammography screening (beta for QLEX, 16.8 [95% confidence interval [CI], 8.7-24.9]; beta for Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination [MCCQE], 17.4 [95% CI, 10.6-24.1]) and consultation (beta for QLEX, 4.9 [95% CI, 2.1-7.8]; beta for MCCQE, 2.9 [95% CI, 0.4-5.4]). Higher subscores in diagnosis were predictive of higher rates in the difference between disease-specific and symptom-relief prescribing (beta for QLEX, 3.9 [95% CI, 0.9-7.0]; beta for MCCQE, 3.8 [95% CI, 0.3-7.3]). Higher scores of drug knowledge were predictive of a lower rate (relative risk per SD increase in score) of contraindicated prescribing for MCCQE (relative risk, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.77-1.00). Relationships between examination scores and practice performance were sustained through the first 4 to 7 years in practice. CONCLUSION: Scores achieved on certification examinations and licensure examinations taken at the end of medical school show a sustained relationship, over 4 to 7 years, with indices of preventive care and acute and chronic disease management in primary care practice.

Certification↗
PubMed1999

Physician Volunteerism: Thanking You for the Joy of Being Honored.

Medical faculties have traditionally relied on gratuitous contributions of both university affiliated and community-based physicians to fulfill important goals and objectives. This phenomenon is likely to assume increasing importance as new assessment tools for student evaluation are developed and as modifications to curricula, such as the shift to ambulatory teaching sites, are introduced. There is a paucity of information regarding the characteristics of physician volunteerism. This study examines the prevalence of specific motivating factors in the context of recruitment of physician examiners for an OSCE jointly administered by a medical school and the Medical Council of Canada. Altruistic motives, such as the opportunity to contribute to the medical profession and to the educational process at the university and identification with institutions were more important than external rewards in promoting physician participation. The motivating factors were similiar in all groups of physicians and were generally independent of gender, specialty, university affiliation and practice profile.

Journal Article↗