Does clinical exposure matter? Pilot assessment of patient visits in an urban family medicine residency program.

Objective To determine the number of patient visits, patient demographic information, and diagnoses in an urban ambulatory care setting in a family medicine residency program, and assess the correlation between the number of patient visits and residents' in-training examination (ITE) scores. Design Retrospective analysis of data from resident practice profiles, electronic medical records, and residents' final ITE scores. Setting Family medicine teaching unit in a community hospital in Barrie, Ont. Participants Practice profile data were from family medicine residents enrolled in the program from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014, and electronic medical record and ITE data were from those enrolled in the program from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2015. Main outcome measures Number of patient visits, patient characteristics (eg, sex, age), priority topics addressed in clinic, resident characteristics (eg, age, sex, level of residency), and residents' final ITE scores. Results Between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014, there were 11 115 patient visits. First-year residents had a mean of 5.48 patient visits per clinic, and second-year residents had a mean of 5.98 patient visits per clinic. A Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.68 was found to exist between the number of patients seen and the final ITE scores, with a 10.5% difference in mean score between residents who had 1251 or more visits and those who had 1150 or fewer visits. Three diagnoses (ie, epistaxis, meningitis, and neck pain) deemed important for Certification by the College of Family Physicians of Canada were not seen by any of the residents in clinic. Conclusion There is a moderate correlation between the number of patients seen by residents in ambulatory care and ITE scores in family medicine. It is important to assess patients' demographic information and diagnoses made in resident practices to ensure an adequate clinical experience.