Why home visits? Analysis of 142 planned home visits

The functions of the traditional home visit in practice and teaching are controversial. A different kind of planned home visit was developed and implemented as part of orientation of first-year family practice residents. The objectives were to get acquainted and establish communications; to facilitate observational skills and awareness of the community; and to improve research parameters of the family record. This kind of home visit is feasible: all residents participated; 92.2 percent of families participated of whom 90.8 percent responded to a follow-up questionaire. Communication patterns between doctor and patient/family were analyzed for skills at listening and speaking clearly. Poor communication was infrequent, occuring in only 8 to 12 percent of the encounters. Ethnic differences between family and resident were important in such visits.