Survey reveals disparities in MS knowledge, care among physicians

Key takeaways:

• Residents and attending physicians were surveyed on a range of aspects of treating multiple sclerosis.
• Data show a lack of awareness among residents for MS clinical trial opportunities.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Among residents and attending physicians at an Ivy League medical center, disparities exist in knowledge and understanding of care for those with multiple sclerosis, according to a poster from ACTRIMS 2024.

“There is knowledge in internal medicine that there are disparities in care and quality of care for patients that are seen in a resident clinic,” Noellie Rivera Torres, MD, a resident in the department of neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, told Healio. “In neurology and in multiple sclerosis there hasn’t been that (kind of) study. That’s what we’re doing currently.”

Since providing equitable care and addressing care disparities are cornerstones for providers, Torres and colleagues wrote, they sought to identify differences between the perspectives of residents and attending physicians and to identify gaps in knowledge within MS care.

They conducted two cross-sectional surveys, one given to residents (n = 54) and one given to attendings (n = 10) within a comprehensive MS care center at the University of Pennsylvania that assessed knowledge of the condition, counseling time for patients with MS as well as barriers such as diagnosis delays, management of comorbidities, pharmaceutical counseling, discussion of disease-modifying therapies (DMT) and awareness of clinical trial opportunities. All participants were given the chance to participate in follow-up recommendations within 6 months.

The researchers received 29 responses from residents and eight from attending physicians.

According to results, residents reported a high degree of knowledge of MS (93.1%), significant knowledge of the necessary labs (58.6%), but reported low confidence in DMT counseling (44.8%), particularly that they have less time to counsel patients on their diagnosis. In addition, 100% of resident responders admitted a lack of awareness of clinical trial opportunities for this patient population.

Conversely, attendings reported high confidence in both diagnosis counseling (87.5%) and DMT counseling (62.5%).

Further, all attendings and a significant portion of residents (93.1%) participated in follow-ups.

“As a fellow, I can provide a little more guidance in how these patients are cared for, give them more access to the resources we have and even to (steer them) toward clinical trial opportunities which the residents are not aware they can offer,” Torres told Healio.