Resident and faculty clinical experience in a model family practice

This study compares the clinical experience of a resident and a faculty member in a model family practice over a three-year period. The resident had 1,565 encounters with 733 patients, and the faculty member had 2,837 encounters with 917 patients. The resident experienced continuity of care by managing his own 300 personal patients for an average of 2.5 visits each, while the faculty member modeled continuity with an average of 3.8 visits for each of 229 personal patients. The resident experienced family care with 33 families having two or more of his personal patients, while the faculty member had 28 such families. Black and white patients of all ages and both sexes, with a wide variety of problems, were seen by both resident and faculty member. Demography was similar except that the resident's patients were younger (mean age 33.3 versus 40.4 years). Their experience parallels that reported elsewhere for practicing family physicians, thereby supporting the model practice as an important component of family medicine residency training.