Clinical competencies for primary health care of climacteric in a group of Mexican physicians

Objective

Measure clinical competence for female climacteric diagnosis and treatment in physicians from a Mexican social security system.

Methods

Cross-sectional and multi-centric study in 78 physicians from five primary health care units from the Mexican Institute of Social Security in Guadalajara City, Jalisco, Mexico. We measured clinical competence with an instrument specially designed and validated (reliability p = 0.92 accord to Kuder–Richardson test). We obtained descriptive statistics and compared proficiency level accord to labor, demographic and academic characteristics using no-parametric statistic.

Results

Clinical competencies medians in five primary health care units were 8–21 points in a scale with maximum value of 108. We do not found significant differences to compare medical unit, gender, specialty, previous training in female climacteric symptoms, contract type, workshift and medical certifications (p > 0.05).

Conclusions

Climacteric clinical competence is null or very low in primary health care physicians from Guadalajara City. Educational interventions are required.