Background
: Most medical institutions usually do practice in daytime that it is difficult for the ordinary worker or student to visit clinics, and all more is so when family members are willing to visit altogether. Evening practice was set up and has been operated at the department of Family Medicine in Presbyterian Medical Center located in Jeon Ju City to offer medical services to community to inhabitants in their convenient time, in order to increase their work efficiency. Our study was done to evaluate the actual situation and details of evening practice.

Methods : Medical records of a total of 586 visitors who had used evening practice between October 1991 and July 1992 were reviewed. Data including age, sex, month and day of visit, occupation, reason for encounter, clinical studies, procedures, and consultations to other department were collected in detail, and the diagnoses were classified according to ICPC.

Results : Of 586 visitors sex ratio was 1.29:1 with male predominance, age distribution was highest in twenties(35.9%), and company employee was the largest in occupation(29.3%). The number of encounter was counted as much as 683(average 1,165 per visitor), and reasons for encounter were 171 items of which health examination was the first in number(15.9%). Among organ-systemically classified reasons for encounter generalized and unspecified reasons were the most frequent(32.8%). A total of 612 diagnoses were made (average 1.04 per visitor) among 97 kinds of diagnosis. The most common diagnosis was 'no disease', and among the organ-systemically classified diagnosis generalized and unspecified diseases was the most frequent(24.3%). A total of 1,985 diagnostic tests were carried out (mean 3.39 per visitor), the kinds of tests were 32, and the most frequently used test was CBC (11.6%). Consultation to other department was taken in 1.54% of visitors, of which infectious hepatitis was the main problem.(33.3%)

Conclusion : The major reasons to encounter evening practice were health examinations of company employees and medical certificates for employments. We suggest that we should evaluate whether the visitors are satisfied with the family medicine-based evening practice.