Background and Purpose: Since September 2003, and as part of medical education and training courses in Taiwan, first-year postgraduate (PGY-1) residents are asked to spend one month in community medicine. This paper describes the concept of community health issues and its evaluation by PGY-1 residents, hospital physicians and clinic physicians. The differences between the three groups' evaluations are described and future improvements highlighted. Method: An instrument was developed to include four hypothetical cases and four health issues that may be encountered by a physician. The points allocated to various alternatives for eight situations are compared between the three groups by the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) method. Results: In the PGY-1 residents group, regular health examinations is the major factor influencing health and its allocated points are significantly higher than from the hospital and clinic physician groups (p<0.05). In contrast, clinical treatment is the major factor influencing health for the hospital and clinic physician groups and the allocated points are significantly higher than those from the PGY-1 residents group (p<0.05). Conclusion: The importance of preventative and community-orientated primary care is suggested for directors and PGY-1 residents in training courses and further clinical practice.
Background and Purpose: Since September 2003, and as part of medical education and training courses in Taiwan, first-year postgraduate (PGY-1) residents are asked to spend one month in community medicine. This paper describes the concept of community health issues and its evaluation by PGY-1 residents, hospital physicians and clinic physicians. The differences between the three groups' evaluations are described and future improvements highlighted. Method: An instrument was developed to include four hypothetical cases and four health issues that may be encountered by a physician. The points allocated to various alternatives for eight situations are compared between the three groups by the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) method. Results: In the PGY-1 residents group, regular health examinations is the major factor influencing health and its allocated points are significantly higher than from the hospital and clinic physician groups (p<0.05). In contrast, clinical treatment is the major factor influencing health for the hospital and clinic physician groups and the allocated points are significantly higher than those from the PGY-1 residents group (p<0.05). Conclusion: The importance of preventative and community-orientated primary care is suggested for directors and PGY-1 residents in training courses and further clinical practice.