175699 Continued Medical Education increases community-based clinicians' knowledge about colorectal cancer screening and treatment in San Francisco Chinatown, CA

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Elisa Tong, MD , Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA
Tung Nguyen, MD , Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Edward Chow, MD , Medical Director, Chinese Community Health Plan, Executive Director, Chinese Community Health Care Association, San Francisco, CA
Justin Quock, MD , Chinese Community Health Care Association, San Francisco, CA
Albert Yu, MD , Chinatown Public Health Center, San Francisco, CA
Ginny Gildegorin, PhD , Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Steve McPhee, MD , Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer screening reduces mortality by detecting and removing pre-cancerous polyps and early cancers. Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer for Chinese Americans. In San Francisco, California, colorectal cancer is diagnosed at later stages among Asian Americans (65%) than whites (54%). OBJECTIVE: An academic-community collaboration designed and evaluated Continued Medical Education (CME) seminars to assess changes in knowledge about colorectal cancer screening and treatment. METHODS: We targeted community clinicians (physicians and nurse practitioners) who serve low-income, English-limited, San Francisco Chinatown residents. Pre- and post-CME questionnaires were administered and assessed using McNemar chi-squared tests. RESULTS: The 108 participants in the 3 seminars were primarily male, primary care providers, who estimated that one-third of their patients were on MediCal or uninsured. Following the CMEs, there were significant increases in clinicians' knowledge of the prevalence of colorectal cancer in the Chinese population (p<0.05) and of recommended screening intervals (p<0.05). Participants already knew the symptoms and recommended tests of colorectal cancer. Regarding surgery, there was a significant increase in knowledge of the survival benefit of surgery for stage III colon cancer (58% before, 83% after; p=0.03). Participants already recognized the surgical survival benefit for earlier stages. Regarding chemotherapy, there was a significant increase in knowledge of recurrence rates for stage III colon cancer (33% before, 54% after; p=0.02), but not for the chemotherapy benefits for stage IV colon cancer (59% before, 75% after; p=0.16). CONCLUSION: CME seminars were effective in improving clinicians' knowledge about colorectal cancer screening and treatment.

Learning Objectives:
1)To understand the baseline knowledge about colorectal cancer screening and treatment in community-based clinicians who serve low-income, English-limited, San Francisco Chinatown residents. 2) To evaluate the impact of an academic-community collaboration in designing and evaluating Continued Medical Education seminars for increasing community-based clinicians’ knowledge 3) To determine areas of improvement about colorectal cancer screening and treatment for future educational outreach to community-based clinicians

Keywords: Cancer, Asian Americans

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have helped develop and evaluate the study.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Capacity Building/Assessments for Organizations & Professionals Serving Asians & Pacific Islanders
See more of: Asian Pacific Islander Caucus of APHA