This investigation examined the allocation of time by medical school faculty who served as attending physicians on a rotating basis in rural primary care centers where medical students and house staff were trained. Two quite different methods of studying faculty time allocation produced relatively consistent results. Travel and direct care of patients (with no medical students present) accounted for the largest share of faculty time. Much of the teaching time was spent in direct student contact with no patient present. Simultaneous care of patients by an attending faculty member and a medical student accounted for less than ten percent of faculty effort. It appears that in a busy rural primary care center, faculty whose mission is intended to emphasize teaching may often be thrust into the role of care providers. Despite this problem, faculty-student contact appears to be greater than that which typically occurs in the tertiary care teaching hospital environment.