title: A national study of medical and surgical specialties. II. Description of the survey instrument.
abstract: The survey instrument used in the national study of physician activities conducted by the University of Southern California, Division of Research in Medical Education, is a log-diary in which physicians kept a record of their actual professional activities. The log-diary focused on use of physician time and patient encounters and employed numerical coding of activities and patient encounters in a highly structured format. Compared with instruments used in similar studies, this log-diary appears to gather a greater breadth and depth of information about physician practice patterns.
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D013502:General Surgery; D008499:Medical Records; D008511:Medicine; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011216:Practice Management, Medical; D013038:Specialization; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States