The development of a primary care curriculum for obstetrics/gynecology residents

In order to develop a primary care curriculum for obstetricians and gynecologists, a needs assessment was performed to determine those topics in which additional training was needed. We used a Likert scale comfort score (0-10) for evaluating or treating 14 primary care areas. The results of the 30 completed surveys showed that topics traditionally emphasized in obstetrics/gynecology training received very high comfort scores, while scores for traditional internal medicine problems were very low. We chosesix areas with the lowest comfort scores as targets for primary care education--immunizations, skin cancer screening, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, musculoskeletal complaints, and depression--and designed a seven-week rotation for obstetrics/gynecology interns. The rotation includes practical ambulatory experiences in gynecology and internal medicine, mental health assessments, thorough breast care in the breast clinic, and individual didactic instruction. The curriculum has been well received by the interns, who report more comfort in providing general women's health care. We suggest that a systematic assessment of the weaknesses and strengths of each residency can serve as the basis for curriculum planning.