Procedural skills training - Canadian family practice residency programs

OBJECTIVE To survey Canadian family practice residency programs to discover which procedural skills residents are expected to learn. DESIGN Cross-sectional eight-item questionnaire. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS The survey was sent to all 92 program directors and site or unit directors of family practice residency programs across Canada. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Information on procedural skills lists was solicited. We sought date of creation, date of most recent revision, and who was involved in creating the list. A copy of the most recent list available was requested. RESULTS We received 65 responses, for a 71% return rate. Surveys were received from all provinces and from all Canadian universities offering family practice residency programs. We received 24 unique lists of procedural skills: the shortest listed only 10 procedural skills; the longest, 75 skills; and the average, 36 skills. Only five procedural skills were found on more than 80% of the lists; 30 skills were listed on half or more of the lists. CONCLUSIONS Canadian family practice residency programs have widely varying expectations of procedural skills for their residents. This survey is a first step in examining the whole issue of procedural skills training in Canadian family medicine programs.