An intervention to increase mammography screening by residents in family practice

Abstract

Two groups of residents in family practice were used to evaluate the effectiveness of a multifaceted educational program that was designed to increase resident compliance with screening for breast cancer. In the experimental group, residents were given a two-hour seminar that responded to the literature on the difficulties of implementing preventive care in clinical practice; group consensus was developed for a more regular (exact frequency left to each resident) screening for women aged over 35 years, and specific barriers to breast cancer screening were analyzed and solutions presented whenever possible. In addition, these residents received two behavioral cues after the intervention to stimulate and reinforce referrals for mammography screening. The study was conducted over a period of one year, including a five-month preintervention period, a three-month post-intervention period, and a three-month follow-up period. As predicted, the increase in mean referral rate for the experimental group was significantly greater than for the comparison group. This increased rate of referral for mammogram was maintained for six months after the intervention. This intervention is easily reproducible in many residency training programs, especially those in family medicine and other small primary care programs.