Delivery of preventive care: the national Canadian Family Physician Cancer and Chronic Disease Prevention Survey.

OBJECTIVE: To determine family physicians' practice of, knowledge about, and attitudes toward delivering preventive care during periodic health examinations (PHEs).
DESIGN: A stratified sample of 5013 members of the College of Family Physicians of Canada were randomly selected to receive a questionnaire by mail. Descriptive analysis was performed on a national data set of 1010 respondents.
SETTING: Canada. PARTICIPANTS: A sample of family physicians from each Canadian province. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Physicians were asked questions about whether they addressed aspects of preventive care, such as tobacco smoking, nutrition, physical activity, alcohol intake, and sun exposure with patients during PHEs. The questions were designed to gauge attitudes and identify barriers to the provision of preventive care.
RESULTS: Most respondents (87% to 89%) indicated that they were comfortable counseling their patients about issues such as nutrition, physical activity, and alcohol consumption; however, many of these respondents did not refer their patients to specialists or provide them with additional resources to educate patients about the health risks of their conditions. While tobacco smoking risks and cessation were addressed by most family physicians (79%) during PHEs, other topics, such as sun exposure, were often overlooked.
CONCLUSION: The results of this survey indicate that while many family physicians follow the evidence-based guidelines for preventive care, current levels of preventive care in the primary care setting are below national standards. It is critical that Canadians receive optimal preventive care to improve the outlook of the chronic disease burden on the health care system.