Freed Gary L, Nahra Tammie A, Wheeler John R C
Division of General Pediatrics, University of Michigan, 300 N. Ingalls Building 6E08, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0456, USA.
Acad Med. 2006 Sep;81(9):847-52. doi: 10.1097/00001888-200609000-00017.
To assess the accuracy of the AMA Masterfile.
In 2002, the authors compared the listing in the Masterfile for pediatric cardiologists with a roster of all such physicians documented by the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) to have completed pediatric cardiology training. Physicians listed on the Masterfile but without ABP records of training completion received a mail survey. For main outcome measures, the differences in state-level distribution of pediatric cardiologists were used, depending on whether data were from the ABP or the AMA Masterfile. Survey items included nature and duration of medical training, the amount of time caring for pediatric or adult cardiology patients, and whether the respondent conducted echocardiograms and/or cardiac catheterizations on children and/or adults.
Of the 2,675 unique, individual physicians obtained from the queries of both lists, 58% (1,558) were listed by both the Masterfile and the ABP. Another 28% (738) were listed by the AMA Masterfile only, and 4% (108) were listed by the ABP only.Of those listed by the Masterfile only, 40% reported they provide no pediatric cardiology care. The amount of pediatric cardiology training was highly variable among the remainder of the respondents.
There are large differences in the number and distribution of physicians identified as pediatric cardiologists between these two datasets. Also, many are potentially providing care for which they have little or no training. Use of such data has the potential to lead to policy options at odds with the actual needs of our nation as a whole or of specific geographic areas.
评估美国医学协会（AMA）主文件的准确性。
2002年，作者将主文件中儿科心脏病专家的名单与美国儿科学会（ABP）记录的所有完成儿科心脏病学培训的医生名册进行了比较。主文件中列出但没有ABP培训完成记录的医生收到了一份邮件调查。对于主要结果指标，根据数据来自ABP还是AMA主文件，使用了儿科心脏病专家在州一级分布的差异。调查项目包括医学培训的性质和时长、照顾儿科或成人心脏病患者的时间量，以及受访者是否对儿童和/或成人进行超声心动图检查和/或心导管检查。
从两个名单的查询中获得的2675名独特的个体医生中，58%（1558名）同时被主文件和ABP列出。另外28%（738名）仅被AMA主文件列出，4%（108名）仅被ABP列出。在仅被主文件列出的那些人中，40%报告他们不提供儿科心脏病学护理。在其余受访者中，儿科心脏病学培训的量差异很大。
这两个数据集在被认定为儿科心脏病专家的医生数量和分布上存在很大差异。此外，许多人可能在提供他们几乎没有或完全没有接受过培训的护理。使用此类数据可能导致与我们整个国家或特定地理区域的实际需求不符的政策选择。
