Creating the Individual Scope of Practice (I-SOP) scale

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Primary Care Medicine
• Physician Practice Patterns

Background:

• Evidence suggests a shrinking scope of practice for primary care physicians.
• Robust primary care is linked to better population health and lower healthcare costs.
• Understanding physician scope of practice is crucial for patient outcomes and cost-efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and utilize a scale measuring the breadth of individual physician scope of practice.
• To quantify the scope of practice for primary care physicians.
• To provide a tool for assessing physician practice patterns.

Main Methods:

• Development of a scale based on 22 self-reported, dichotomous indicators.
• Utilized data from a physician survey.
• Employed a quantitative approach to measure practice breadth.

Main Results:

• A scale was successfully developed to measure the breadth of physician scope of practice.
• The scale utilizes 22 indicators derived from physician self-reports.
• The study provides a method for assessing individual physician scope.

Conclusions:

• The developed scale offers a novel way to measure the breadth of primary care physician scope of practice.
• This measurement tool can aid in understanding factors influencing health outcomes and costs.
• Further research can utilize this scale to explore the relationship between practice scope and healthcare delivery.