Continuing Medical Education for Primary Care Physicians in Israel: A Cross-Sectional Study

Table 3

Comparison of demographic and practice characteristics between physicians with high* and low** JSPLL scores (𝑁=255 versus 𝑁=288).

	JSPLL lower third scores; (𝑁=288)		JSPLL upper third scores; (𝑁=255)		Total	P value
	N	%	N	%
Age
30–50	112	53.8%	96	46.2%	208
51+	153	50.7%	149	49.3%	302
Average ± st. dv.	51.87±8.74		51.86±7.65			0.993
Range	32–79		32–68
	265	(mis = 23)	245	(mis = 10)	510
Gender
Male	150	49.2%	155	50.8%	305	0.031
	282	(mis = 6)	248	(mis = 7)	530
Country of Birth
Israel	110	45.5%	132	54.5%	242	0.007
East Europe and USSR	89	61.4%	56	38.6%	145
Other	74	55.6%	59	44.4%	133
	273	(mis = 15)	247	(mis = 8)	520
Years in Israel
≤10	7	70.0%	3	30.0%	10
10+	142	56.8%	108	43.2%	250
Average ± st. dv.	27.11±13.82		27.91±13.02			0.313
Range	6–70		8–91
	149	(mis = 14)	111	(mis = 4)	260
Graduated Medical School in
Israel	108	46.0%	127	54.0%	235	0.009
Other	170	59.0%	118	41.0%	288
	278	(mis = 10)	245	(mis = 10)	523
Years as a physician
1–10	14	51.9%	13	48.1%	27
11–19	48	49.5%	49	50.5%	97
20+	196	53.1%	173	46.9%	369	0.815
Average ± st. dv.	25.71±8.92		24.82±8.41
Range	5–54		6–45
	258	(mis = 30)	235	(mis = 20)	493
Specialists in (more than one answer could be marked)
Family physician	132	50.8%	128	49.2%	260	0.176
Pediatrician	61	50.4%	60	49.6%	121	0.29
Internal medicine	41	51.3%	39	48.8%	80	0.41
General practitioner	43	65.2%	23	34.8%	66	0.024
Geriatrician	4	36.4%	7	63.6%	11	0.345
Other	12	29.3%	29	70.7%	41	0.001
	293		286		579
Graduated specialty in
Israel	204	48.8%	214	51.2%	418	0.09
Abroad	29	61.7%	18	38.3%	47
	233	(mis = 12)	232		465
Years as a specialist
1–10	86	52.8%	77	47.2%	163	0.629
11–19	66	47.8%	72	52.2%	138
20+	68	48.2%	73	51.8%	141
Average ± st. dv.	14.72±9.35		15.21±8.48
Range	1–51		1–37
	220	(mis = 25)	222	(mis = 10)	442
Number of years in practice in primary care in Israel
1–10	64	54.2%	54	45.8%	118	0.426
11–19	121	57.1%	91	42.9%	212
20+	94	50.5%	92	49.5%	186
Average ± st. dv.	17.44±8.74		18.19±8.63
Range	1–50		2–40
	279	(mis = 9)	237	(mis = 18)	516
Teaching involvement
Yes	65	29.7%	154	70.3%	219	<0.0001
	277	(mis = 11)	242	(mis = 13)	519
Academic affiliation
Yes	46	28.6%	115	71.4%	161	<0.0001
	272	(mis = 16)	233	(mis = 22)	505
Were you a partner in planning/developing teaching programs?
Yes	40	26.0%	114	74.0%	154	<0.0001
	270	(mis = 18)	237	(mis = 18)	507
Position
Head of clinic	35	34.7%	66	65.3%	101	<0.0001
Primary physician	231	59.7%	156	40.3%	387
Other	14	33.3%	28	66.7%	42
	280	(mis = 8)	250	(mis = 5)	530
Characteristic of main working clinic
Urban	232	57.9%	169	42.1%	401	<0.0001
Rural/kibbutz	34	45.3%	41	54.7%	75
Child health center	9	27.3%	24	72.7%	33
Other	10	35.7%	18	64.3%	28
	285	(mis = 3)	252	(mis = 3)	537
Position
Head of clinic	35	34.7%	66	65.3%	101	<0.0001
Primary physician	231	59.7%	156	40.3%	387
Other	14	33.3%	28	66.7%	42
	280	(mis = 8)	250	(mis = 5)	530
Number of population under your care (main clinic)
≤1000	69	54.8%	57	45.2%	126
1001–1500	92	57.9%	67	42.1%	159
1500+	73	46.5%	84	53.5%	157	0.115
Average ± st. dv.	1433.35±880.15		1603.85±1203.89
Range	80–8000		60–9999
	234	(mis = 54)	208	(mis = 47)	442
Other clinics you work at (more than one answer could be marked)
Urban	85	49.1%	88	50.9%	173	0.212
Rural/kibbutz	17	48.6%	18	51.4%	35	0.584
Child health center	0	0.0%	4	100.0%	4	0.048
Other	20	34.5%	38	65.5%	58	0.003
	288		255		543
Number of hours seeing patients/week
≤30	78	49.4%	80	50.6%	158	0.566
31–45	167	54.6%	139	45.4%	306
45+	25	53.2%	22	46.8%	47
Average ± st. dv.	33.86±10.64		32.92±11.03
Range	5–65		2–60
	270	(mis = 18)	241	(mis = 14)	511
Average number of patients seen/day (7 hours)
≤20	36	52.9%	32	47.1%	68	0.467
21–35	89	50.9%	86	49.1%	175
36–50	103	53.4%	90	46.6%	193
51+	44	62.0%	27	38.0%	71
Average ± st. dv.	39.86±15.90		37.41±15.16
Range	6–100		5–100
	272	(mis = 16)	235	(mis = 20)	507

∗High JSPLL score-upper third score (high LL activities score: 62–76).
**Low JSPLL score-bottom third score (low LL activities score: 33–54).