Assessment of postgraduate skin lesion education among Iowa family physicians

BACKGROUND Family medicine physicians play a pivotal role in the prevention and early detection of skin cancer. Our objective was to evaluate how family physicians believe their postgraduate training in skin cancer screening and prevention has prepared them for independent practice and to assess the need for enhanced skin lesion teaching in a family medicine residency setting. METHODS A descriptive, cross-sectional survey investigating provider demographics, confidence in providing dermatological care, residency training, current medical practice, and skin cancer prevention beliefs was mailed to all family medicine physicians in the state of Iowa as listed in the Iowa Academy of Family Physicians annual directory in 2006 (N = 1069). RESULTS A total of 575 family medicine physicians completed the survey for an overall response rate of 53.8%. Overall, family medicine physicians reported feeling confident in their ability to diagnose skin lesions (83.2%), differentiate between benign and malignant lesions (85.3%), and perform a biopsy of a lesion (94.3%). Only 65% of surveyed physicians felt that their residency program adequately trained them in diagnosing skin lesions and 65.7% of physicians agree that they could have benefited from additional training on skin lesions during residency training. Nearly 90% of clinicians surveyed believe that skin cancer screenings are the standard of care; however, only 51.8% perform skin cancer screening examinations during adult health maintenance visits more than 75% of the time. The primary reason listed by respondents who said they do not routinely perform skin cancer screenings was inadequate time (68.2%). CONCLUSION Family medicine physicians in the state of Iowa are confident in evaluating skin lesions. However, they reported a need for additional enhanced, targeted skin lesion education in family medicine residency training programs. Physicians believe that skin cancer screening examination is the standard of care, but find that inadequate time increasingly hinders skin cancer screening during routine health maintenance examinations.