Physician Study

As part of the NSAGI program, physicians will be asked to participate in providing information on activities related to gastrointestinal illness in their practices. Surveys are intended to determine the percentage of patients in their care who are diagnosed with acute gastrointestinal illness, and aspects of their practice protocol upon diagnosis. In terms of contributing to the 'reporting pyramid' for enteric illness, this would result in determining:

1. the proportion of patients seeking primary care who are diagnosed with acute gastrointestinal illness;

2. the proportion of patients diagnosed with acute gastrointestinal illness who are asked to submit a stool sample for laboratory testing.

It will also serve to provide a better understanding of inter-practice variations in diagnostic and stool submission procedures with respect to acute gastrointestinal illness. Since contact with a physician is the first point at which an individual who is ill enters the medical recording system, it is vital to obtain this information as part of an assessment of under-reporting of enteric illness. Subsequently, these approximations can be used to obtain a better estimate of the true level of gastrointestinal illness in the population.

In the spring of 2001, both the physician study and the population study were piloted in a southern Ontario community. All actively practising general practitioners and paediatricians in the catchment area were included in the survey process. A final report of the physician study results was sent to all participating physicians.

• Primary Physician Survey: A Study of Acute Gastrointestinal Illness in General Practice
  9 pages, 177 KB, in PDF format 

• Results of a Physician Study in the New City of Hamilton Region - February 2002
  37 pages, 570 KB, in PDF format 

[Foodborne, Waterborne and Zoonotic Infections Division]