PATIENT MIX IN THE PRIMARY AMBULATORY CARE CLINICS OF AN ACADEMIC-MEDICAL-CENTER

Background. The authors wished to learn whether the primary ambulatory care clinics of a university hospital had a sufficiently diverse pati ent mix for training in common medical problems. Method. Claims data f or all the ambulatory care clinics at the University of Illinois Hospi tal from June 1989 through June 1990 were examined for principal diagn oses. The diagnoses were grouped into common ambulatory care diagnosis clusters. The frequencies of the clusters were compared with the nati onal frequencies from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey of 1 989. Results. Only eight of 25 leading clusters nationally were seen w ith frequencies greater than 1% in the hospital's primary care clinics (i.e., family practice, general internal medicine, general pediatrics ). This number increased to 22 when the clinics of other specialties w ere included. Conclusion. To create an appropriate patient mix for tra ining medical students and residents in ambulatory care, the universit y hospital examined in this study could supplement the use of its prim ary care clinics with the use of clinics in other specialties. This ma y be a less expensive and administratively less complex alternative to using off-campus private practices for such training.