Recruiting physicians for a continuing medical education research study.

The authors describe the methods and results of a major effort to recruit physicians in the San Francisco Bay Area for a continuing medical education research study. Twenty six hundred primary care physicians were asked to participate in the project, which was designed to assess ambulatory management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Two hundred and seventy-seven (11%) returned a postcard declining to participate, and 171 (7%) expressed an interest in participating. Of this latter group, 89 (3%) verbally agreed to enroll, while 63 (2%) actually followed through. Those who participated were representative of the local physician population from which they were drawn in terms of age and sex, but participants included more family practitioners and fewer internists, as well as more board-certified physicians, than would be expected by chance. Shortcomings in the recruitment process are analyzed, and suggestions are offered for securing higher participation rates.