A systems approach to patient care, curriculum, and research in family practice.

The system of data recording and retrieval which defines a family practice population of patients is described. It is organized at two levels, as a series of manual instruments or as a single instrument used as data input to a computer. Depending on resources available, it is possible to record demographic and morbidity data from the patient populations of both teaching and nonteaching practices. Data have been collected from a patient population of 88,000 in 26 practicing sites in Virginia, totaling 380,000 diagnostic and follow-up visits. Presentations are made of some of this data. The costs of this recording process in nonteaching practices, the use of such data as an educational resource for the training of primary care physicians, and the evaluations of health care delivered are discussed.