To explore physician, patient, and provider factors associated with house staff performance of cancer screening in women, the authors reviewed 565 randomly selected charts of 58 medical residents in two San Francisco hospitals.

After controlling for location, the authors found no statistically significant differences in screening between English and non-English speaking patients. Rectal exams were performed more often for white women.

“Gemson reported decreased preventive care by urban primary care physicians with predominantly minority patients. He found significant provider differences between minority and white practices, including amount of continuing education and the number who were board-certified…. Since cancer survival is substantially worse in some ethnic groups, such as blacks, the association between race and screening should be further explored in future studies.”