To examine the opportunity for first-year family medicine residents to experience continuity of care during family medicine block time and half-day returns.
Retrospective analysis of patient encounter data during the 1987-1988 and 1991-1992 academic years to determine how much contact residents had with repeat patients.
Two family medicine teaching centres in Edmonton.
First-year family medicine residents: 24 residents during 1987-1988 and 24 during 1991-1992.
Number of patient-resident contacts and number of repeat contacts.
During the 4-month block time and half-day return, residents had repeat contact with 25.9% and 20.3% of the patients seen. These patients provided 48.3% and 37.7% of all visits at Centres A and B, respectively.
Increasing block time from 2 to 4 months resulted in only a slight increase in repeat contact with patients. Half-day returns did not appear to enhance the opportunity for continuity of care.
Notes
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