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DIFFERENCE IN TREATMENT PRACTICES OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE VS. FAMILY MEDICINE TRAINED SPORTS MEDICINE PHYSICIANS

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have investigated treatment practices between orthopedic surgeons and primary care sports medicine physicians; however, our study solely looks at primary care physicians and investigates if the primary specialty training impacts treatment. The aim of this study is to evaluate differences in treatment of acute injuries based on primary specialty. METHODS: Patients that fit inclusion criteria at Steadman Hawkins orthopedic outpatient clinics were included. Treatment recommendations were compared between Emergency Medicine (EM) and Family Medicine (FM) trained Sports Medicine Physicians. Treatment options evaluated were: additional imaging, medications, injections, physical therapies, durable medical equipment (DME, e.g. splint, brace), activity restrictions, and surgery or follow up. Data was input into REDCap and analyzed using Fisher’s exact test. RESULTS: 35 patients were included, 12 received care from EM physicians and 23 from FM physicians. FM physicians prescribed medication more frequently than EM physicians (52.2% vs 0%, p=0.002). There were no significant differences between frequency of recommendations for additional imaging, injection, physical therapy, stabilization, activity restrictions, surgery or follow up. There was a non-significant trend with EM physicians prescribing more DME than FM physicians (83.3% vs 56.5% of patients, p=0.11). CONCLUSIONS: The data collected suggests there are differences in documented treatment recommendations based on the residency completed prior to sports medicine fellowship. More specifically, there was a statistically significant difference in FM physicians prescribing medication more frequently than EM physicians.

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