Abstract
The focus of this study was an innovative antibiotic preventive regimen recommended by experts and regularly updated. Data about knowledge of this regimen and potential predictors of knowledge levels were obtained from representative samples of New York State urban and rural general dental practitioners. Using multivariate analyses, four research objectives were achieved: measurement of clinicians' level, of knowledge in both groups; identification of personal and professional work and communication factors influencing clinicians' knowledge level; assessment of the effect of each of these factors on knowledge; and differentiation between sets of predictors for each group. Explanatory factors in this study appeared to be specific, situational, and/or ecologic. The role of distinct configurations of communication networks in the knowledge acquisition process is noted.
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Donald Sadowsky is professor, Department of Dentistry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Research interests include the latter stages of professional socialization, measurement of clinician knowledge and knowledge-related behavior, and planned interventions to change that behavior.
Carol Kunzel is assistant professor of dentistry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her academic degree is in sociology. She is currently studying clinician knowledge and its role in the prevention of bacterial endocarditis in a national sample of general practice dentists.
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Sadowsky, D., Kunzel, C. Predicting knowledge acquisition in two clinician groups: Rethinking the standard paradigm. Knowledge in Society 1, 58–68 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02687213
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02687213