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.