Does the surgical clerkship meet the needs of practicing primary care physicians

Methods: A survey was mailed to 186 PC physicians practicing in Wisconsin. Included in this group were internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatric physicians. One follow-up mailing and an e-mail were sent to all non-respondents. Respondents rated the importance of 10 curricular areas, including the specialties of general, orthopaedic, plastic, transplant, vascular, cardiothoracic, and pediatric surgery, as well as otolaryngology, neurosurgery, and urology. Respondents also rated the importance of exposure to 24 surgical diagnoses and identified office procedures important to PC physicians. Results: A total of 84 PC physicians responded to the survey. The highest-ranked curricular areas were general surgery, orthopaedic surgery, and otolaryngology. The 5 diagnoses that received the highest ranking from the PC physicians surveyed were abdominal pain, gastrointestinal bleeding, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), biliary tract/gallbladder disorders, and breast disease, all of which are included in the general surgery curriculum. The 5 most common office