[Assessment of the ability of first contact physicians in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis].

Rheumatic Diseases (RD) are part of the 20 most frequent reasons for consultation in family medicine, therefore, it is mandatory that family physicians perform an opportune recognizement and therapeutic approach of RD. The aim of this study was to measure the clinical competence for identification and therapeutic approach of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of 144 from 450 family physicians by using a structured and validated instrument. The FP Sample was obtain from 5 randomly selected from 23 Family Medicine Units of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico. Main outcome measure was the clinical competence of FP, defined as the capacity to interpretate, to evaluate and proposals realized in its clinical practice. Competence levels were expressed in an ordinal scale and its association with other variables was assessed by using Kruskal-Wallis test or Chi square test. Clinical competence median value was 47.3, ranking from -6 to 90, and no statistical difference was found when comparing by Family Medicine Unit, neither when comparing by other variables. We conclude that 15.3 % of FP met clinical competence for identification and therapeutic approach of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).