The diagnostic process in primary care: A comparison of general internists and family physicians

Deborah E. Simpson, Eugene C. Rich, Kathleen A. Dalgaard, Dwenda Gjerdingen, Terry W. Crowson, Daniel K. O'Brien and Paul E. Johnson

Social Science & Medicine, 1987, vol. 25, issue 7, 861-866

Abstract: This investigation examined the formulation of diagnostic hypotheses by general internists and family physicians in response to three patient cases (dyspnea, abdominal pain and syncope). The investigation was conducted in the United States. Physician responses to sequentially presented written clinical information were audiotaped. Each transcribed protocol was scored to enumerate and characterize the hypotheses considered by physicians in each specialty. Results of the analyses of variance of hypothesis measures revealed that internists generated more hypotheses than family physicians and that the internist's hypotheses were more specific and were less likely to be generated by other physicians. In addition, internists tended to consider hypotheses more closely related to the final diagnosis sooner in the case presentation than did family physicians. The findings of increased number, specificity, and uniqueness of hypothesis considered by internists are consistent with previously demonstrated differences in the amount and nature of diagnostic information collected by family physicians and internists.

Keywords: diagnostic; reasoning; family; practice; medical; diagnosis; primary; care; resident; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1987
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277-9536(87)90044-X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:25:y:1987:i:7:p:861-866

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().