THE NATURE OF A SMALL PEDIATRIC GROUP PRACTICE

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Abstract
The nature of a small suburban three-man group practice in Rochester, Monroe County, New York, has been analyzed largely from special records of patients seen on every fifteenth day over the 2-year period 1959 to 1960. Data are presented on the growth of pediatric practice within the county, the distribution of pediatricians, the increase in groups, the number of patients seen, distribution of calls by year, month, day of week, and time of day, together with information on the age of patients, parents' age, their type and place of occupation, size of family, presence and absence of tonsils, diagnosis, treatment, charges to patient, and some additional figures on the economics of our particular practice. 1. The carrier rate for beta hemolytic streptococci among normal children in a private pediatric practice when direct inoculation of cultures onto sheep blood agar plates are used is extremely low (less than 4%). 2. Because of these low rates among "normal" children, positive cultures, particularly strongly positive ones, are generally of diagnostic importance. 3. The lower carrier rate found in our practice than that reported by other investigators is probably due to differences in our bacteriologic methods, the age of the children sampled, and our method of treating known streptococcal illness. 4. Significant streptococcal illness is an exceedingly common and important illness in our practice; it is found in approximately 1 child in 20 of all children, sick or well. 5. The frequency of streptococcal illness seems to have a definite relation to age and season of the year.

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