Barriers to HPV vaccination by physicians and the effectiveness of an educational intervention

Little is known about barriers physicians encounter in their practice and what the current state of knowledge for HPV vaccination is among physicians. The purpose of the current study was to determine what barriers exist for physicians regarding the HPV vaccine and to examine the effect of an educational intervention to increase physician knowledge about HPV vaccination. In order to examine physician barriers and the impact of an educational intervention, a sample of physicians that had recently received continuing medical education on HPV was obtained. The physician participants (P) received the educational intervention in one of three formats- live, CD-ROM, or newsletter. A demographically similar sample of non-participants (NP) was also obtained for comparison. Data have been collected via email and fax for the groups of participants and non participants, obstetricians/gynecologists (n=231), pediatricians (n=77), and family practice physicians (n=73). Interim data reveal the most frequently reported barrier to the optimal management of patients with HPV for obstetricians/gynecologists (P=48%, NP=43%) and family physicians (P=45%, NP=42%) was lack of patient knowledge about HPV. For pediatricians, the most frequently reported barriers include (1) that many parents do not want to acknowledge that their older child/young adolescent will most likely become sexually active (P=36%, NP=32%) and (2) that symptoms of cervical disease are slow to appear and may not be bothersome to patients (P=33%, NP=37%). Effect sizes for each of the three physician groups for HPV vaccination knowledge will be reported. Public health implications for physicians and patients will be discussed.