The after-hours call: a survey of United States family practice residency programs

This article reports the results of a 1977 survey of 245 family practice residency programs providing after-hours care. The objectives of the study were: (1) to clarify the involvement of family practice residents in this aspect of medical care; (2) to investigate the organization of after-hours care in the family practice centers as a possible training model for future family physicians; and (3) to establish whether or not specific educational activity was based on after-hours calls. All the responding operational programs provided after-hours care to patients, using all levels of residents as providers. Most of the programs used an answering service. Only 67 percent documented all patient encounters in writing. Regular educational feedback to residents was undertaken by 71 percent of the residency programs.