Family physicians' attitudes toward education in research skills during residency: findings from a national mailed survey

OBJECTIVE

To determine the attitudes of practising Canadian family physicians toward education in research skills during residency, to identify what determines these attitudes, and to investigate the effect of education in research skills on future research activity.

DESIGN

Mailed survey.

SETTING

Primary care.

PARTICIPANTS

Stratified random sample of 247 practising physicians who were members of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Physicians’ attitudes toward education in research skills during residency, their perceptions of the value of research in primary care, and their current involvement in research activities.

RESULTS

Overall response rate was 56%. Nearly all respondents agreed that critical appraisal skills are essential to the practice of modern family medicine. Most agreed that it is very important that the evidence base for primary care medicine be developed by family physicians, yet only one-third agreed that research skills ought to receive more emphasis during residency training, and fewer than one-quarter agreed that practising family physicians should have strong research skills. Fewer than half the respondents agreed that a core goal of family medicine residency training should be to promote and develop an active interest in research. While three-quarters agreed that research projects during residency can be formative learning experiences, only about 40% indicated that research projects should be required, and only about 20% considered their own resident research projects to have been highly influential learning experiences. Respondents whose residency programs had research in the curriculum were significantly more likely to have found their research projects to be highly influential learning experiences (P <.05), and those who had successfully completed research projects were less likely to believe that they lacked the necessary skills and expertise to conduct their own research studies. Those who had successfully completed resident research projects participated in postresidency research activity at a significantly higher rate than those who did not complete projects (P <.01).

CONCLUSION

Despite a conviction that research is important in primary care, only a few practising family physicians in our sample believed that strong research skills are important or that education in research skills should receive more emphasis during residency training. Resident research projects are not invariably influential learning experiences, although some evidence indicates that successful completion of a project makes future participation in research more likely.