Physician familiarity with the educational programs of their special needs patients

As part of an analysis of health care for children in special education programs, physician familiarity with the educational status and program enrollment of their disabled patients was examined. Telephone interviews were performed with a random sample of 411 of the children's physicians. The majority (70%) of the physicians interviewed professed no knowledge of their patients' current special educational program. Certain physician, child, and family characteristics were associated with physician awareness of the children's programs. These were physician specialty, physician gender, child's disability, and severity of the child's problem. This study suggests that, although some physicians of very involved patients do familiarize themselves with their patients' day-to-day school life, many other physicians are poorly informed about the school activities and functional status of their young patients with disabilities. Better mechanisms are needed to ensure physicians' understanding of these aspects of child health.