RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Self-observation in general practice—the bleep method
JF The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
JO J R Coll Gen Pract
FD British Journal of General Practice
SP 425
OP 431
VO 25
IS 155
A1 Clifford B. Floyd
A1 A. Livesey
YR 1975
UL http://bjgp.org/content/25/155/425.abstract
AB Recent trends in general practice towards working in multi-disciplinary teams from purpose-built premises have emphasised the need to study the ways in which doctors and other staff spend their working time. This paper describes a well-established work-study technique (activity sampling), which has been adapted to enable doctors to assess how they use their time. The method needs no observer and is cheap to operate. Five general practitioners undertook to record their surgeries for two separate weeks using the bleep method of activity sampling. The results they obtained show that the technique is both practicable in normal working conditions and is capable of providing information highly relevant to the management of general practice.