176757 Physician attitudes, knowledge, and practice behavior regarding teen driving safety

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Kevin T. Borrup, JD, MPA , Injury Prevention Center, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford, CT
Brendan Campbell, MD MPH , Injury Prevention Center, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford, CT
John Corsi, MBA , Injury Prevention Center, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford, CT
Kristine Kelliher, MD , Injury Prevention Center, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford, CT
Hassan Salaheen, MBBS MPH , Injury Prevention Center, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford, CT
Leonard Banco, MD , Injury Prevention Center, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford, CT
Garry Lapidus, PA-C MPH , Injury Prevention Center, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford, CT
Objectives – To describe physician attitudes, knowledge and practice regarding teen driving safety.

Methods – 32 item self administered survey on teen driving issues mailed to Connecticut pediatricians and family medicine physicians.

Results – 218 of 642 physicians (34% response rate) completed the survey. During a health supervision visit 92% of respondents reported discussing seat belt use, 85% driving while impaired, 79% distractions when driving, 77% risk factors for teen driver crashes and injury, 51% night/passenger restrictions for teen driving, 47% Connecticut graduated driver licensing laws, 30% vehicle driven is safe/good condition, 27% parent model safe driving, and 13% parent teen written contract. Pediatricians were more likely than family physicians to discuss the graduated driver licensing law (54% v 35%, p<0.05) and report that they were effective in discussing teen driver issues with teens and parents (37% v 21%, p<0.05). Forty-five percent (45%) reported having a teen in their practice killed in a motor vehicle crash. Those who had a teen killed vs. not killed in their practice were also more likely discuss Connecticut's graduated driver licensing law (58% v 40%, p< 0.01) and risk factors for teen drivers (86% v 74%, p< 0.05).

Conclusions - The majority of pediatric and family physicians report discussing and counseling teens on first wave teen driver safety issues (seat belts, alcohol use) but most do not discuss graduate driver licensing laws or related issues. Most are interested and receptive to increasing the teen anticipatory counseling activities.

Learning Objectives:
Describe physician attitudes and knowledge about teen driving safety. Assess and discuss physician practices regarding the provision of anticipatory guidance on the risks to teens as novice drivers.

Keywords: Motor Vehicles, Children and Adolescents

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I manage our teen driver program, played a key role in the research design, was responsible for data collection, participated in data analysis, and worked with the other authors in developing this abstract.
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.

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