Computer analysis of the student log diary: an aid in the teaching of general practice and family medicine

At the University of Queensland all medical students in their fifth year rotate through a 2-week attachment to a general practitioner tutor as part of the course in community practice. As a means of learning from this experience each student records information in a log diary on seventy-five consecutive patients seen, and codes it using a code-book developed for the purpose. The International Classification of Health Problems in Primary Care (ICHPPC) classification is used for coding diagnoses and problems. These data are then computerized and a print-out of frequencies. including mean values, is provided for each student in a group of twenty-eight to thirty. In a teaching session of 2-3 hours held with the group. Results are presented and each variable discussed in turn. Students can easily identify differences between practices, and how data from each practice compare with mean values for the practices visited by the group. Possible reasons for these differences are then discussed. Comparisons are made with similar data accumulated by the Department over 2 1/2 years (amounting to some 42,000 patient encounters), and with other surveys of general practice morbidity. The use of the computer print-out provides an extremely valuable yet comparatively simple method of demonstrating the demography, clinical content and process of general practice.