Quality of cardiovascular care in an internal medicine resident clinic

Attainment of treatment goals derived from evidence-based practice guidelines can be a useful measure of the quality of cardiovascular care. To date, there are few studies of the quality of care provided in a resident continuity clinic, as measured by success in meeting nationally defined guidelines for control of cardiovascular risk factors. There also is limited information regarding the quality of care in resident continuity clinics serving multiethnic uninsured/underinsured populations. This study assessed the efficacy of residents in internal medicine in attaining evidence-based, guideline-defined treatment goals for control of hypertension, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia in an uninsured/underinsured multiethnic population.

In a cross-sectional study of patients treated exclusively by residents (with faculty supervision) between July 1 and December 31, 2005, data were abstracted from the medical records of 628 consecutive patients (mean age, 55.6 years; 62% female; 61.3% non-white; 55.5% uninsured) with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and/or diabetes mellitus. Quality measures were the proportion of diabetic and nondiabetic patients who met guideline-defined treatment goals for hypertension, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia in diabetic patients.

Goal attainment overall was 44.9% for high blood pressure, 55.7% for dyslipidemia, and 43.3% for hemoglobin A(1c) for diabetic patients. There was no relationship between age, gender, race/ethnicity, insurance, or body weight to attainment of hypertension, dyslipidemia, or hemoglobin A(1c) goals in diabetic and nondiabetic cohorts from multivariate analysis. Risk factor control rates were higher in this study than in comparable educational programs.

An internal medicine resident continuity clinic can provide high-quality care that meets guideline-defined cardiovascular risk factor control goals in a racially and ethnically diverse, underinsured/uninsured, low-income population in a community-based academic medical center.