Improving Colorectal Cancer Screening in Family Medicine: An Oklahoma Physicians Resource/Research Network (OKPRN) Study

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe colorectal cancer screening (CRCS) practices across a variety of primary care clinics and identify the methods used by primary care physicians (PCPs) with higher rates of CRCS (“exemplars”). Methods: Physician questionnaires, structured interviews, medical record abstractions, and practice observations were conducted for 48 PCPs in 25 practices within a regional practice-based research network followed by secondary in-depth interviews to further investigate the practices of PCPs in the top quartile of CRCS rates (“exemplars”). Results: We abstracted 3596 medical records (mean of 75 records per PCP). Overall, exemplars had higher CRCS rates (median, 57.2% vs. 27.6%; P Conclusions: Experienced PCPs use brief CRCS promotion scripts including counseling techniques that improve CRCS performance. Future research should be directed toward whether these techniques can be used to create an intervention aimed at PCPs to improve CRCS.