Background and objectives: Only 12 % of family physicians perform exercise stress testing (EST) in the office even though there are many indications for its use. The purpose of this study was to obtain updated information about attitudes toward EST training from family medicine residency program directors in the United States.
Methods: A survey regarding EST training was designed and sent to all US family medicine residency program directors by e-mail and online survey method with telephone follow-up for non- respondents.
Results: A total of 179 responses were received from 440 US family medicine programs, for a 41% response rate. A majority (77%) of program directors felt office-based EST was a valuable test for risk stratification, and 64% felt that family physicians should offer this test in the office. Despite these attitudes, only 33% of family medicine residency programs offer EST in their offices now, and only 36% of programs reported offering EST training to their residents. This reflects a 16% reduction compared to the last survey done in 1993. The most important barriers to EST training reported were lack of equipment and lack of expert faculty.
Discussion: Most family medicine training programs want to train their residents in performing EST, but only 36% are doing so. Specifically addressing the barriers to this training will be key to more widespread use of this important test in family medicine settings.