Comparison of primary care residents' confidence and clinical behavior in treating hypertension versus treating alcoholism

PURPOSE: To compare the self-reported confidence and clinical behaviors of primary care residents in treating alcoholism versus hypertension. METHOD: Eighty-five residents, 36 in family medicine and 49 in primary care internal medicine, representing all years of the three-year training programs at two hospitals affiliated with the Brown University School of Medicine, were surveyed in 1988. Self-report questionnaires elicited demographic data and several responses (ranged on scales of 1, not confident or frequent, to 10, very confident or frequent) about the residents' confidence and frequency of use of clinical behaviors with both alcoholic and hypertensive patients. Paired t-tests were used to compare the responses about hypertension with those about alcoholism. RESULTS: Questionnaires were completed by 54 (63.5%) of the residents. No significant difference was found between the residents' responses by sex or program, but there was a significant difference (p < .0001) between the responses with regard to the two disorders. The residents had more confidence about their management of hypertension (a mean score of 8.81 versus 7.95 for alcoholism). They also reported greater use of appropriate clinical behaviors with hypertensive patients (mean scores in the very confident range of 7.5 to 8.2 compared with means in the moderate range of 4.9 to 7.1 for alcoholism). CONCLUSION: Both the family medicine and the internal medicine residents were significantly more confident in managing all aspects of hypertension than in managing alcoholism, and they reported significantly greater frequency in utilizing appropriate clinical behaviors for hypertension than for alcoholism.