[The practice and acceptance of physician preventive medicine services in a Montreal university hospital and the obstacles that deter their implementation]

Abstract

Objectives: Present a picture of physicians' preventive clinical practices (PCP) at a university medical centre, and identify the obstacles that hinder their implementation.

Method: Self-administered questionnaire survey addressed to 367 general practitioners and specialists working at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) in 2006.

Results: Respondents claim to be recommending PCP (often or very often) in approximately 60-82% of cases. Women physicians report a larger integration for screening and vaccination (p < 0.05). General physicians claim to apply or recommend PCP more frequently than specialists (p < 0.05), except for anti-tobacco counseling. Lack of time (82%) and deficiencies in continuity of treatment (75%) are considered by the majority of respondents as major obstacles to the realization of PCP. Most participants (99%) consider delivering preventive services to be part of their role and 98% claim to be motivated to integrate PCP into their practice. However, almost half of physicians do not apply preventive recommendations to their own life and at least two thirds of them doubt the efficacy of counseling.

Conclusion: Despite observed encouraging results, actions must be taken to improve the integration of PCP to general and specialized health care and to bring physicians around to adopting healthy lifestyle habits themselves.