THE EFFECT OF TEACHING MEDICAL-STUDENTS ON PRIVATE PRACTITIONERS WORKLOADS

Background. The costs in time and money of medical student education f or family physicians in private practice is uncertain, with the litera ture containing conflicting reports. Method. Questionnaires were maile d in 1992-93 to 56 primary care physicians who had taught third- or fo urth-year students during the previous academic year in fulfillment of the students' required four-week family medicine preceptorships at th e University of Missouri - Columbia School of Medicine. Results. Forty -six physicians responded. The physicians had been preceptors for 74 s tudents. Most of the physicians reported increases in time spent at wo rk (mean of 46 minutes per day, standard deviation of 32 minutes) when a student was present in their practices. Only five noted decreases i n billed charges. Conclusion. The preceptors were consistent in their indications that having students in their offices increased their time at work. This suggests that teaching medical students places a substa ntial temporal burden on private practitioners.