The Reliability of Clinical Methods, Data and Judgments

Abstract

(First of Two Parts)SKILLED physicians examining a patient may disagree regarding the findings. Such disagreements reflect the imperfect reliability of clinical methods and data. A decade ago, Fletcher¹ urged physicians to abandon unreliable methods and stop teaching unreliable signs to their students. This paper reviews studies of physician reliability published in the last decade, together with a few studies not discussed in earlier reviews.^{1 2 3 4} Today, consumers, insurers and government agencies, as well as physicians and their students, must become aware of the imperfect reliability of the methods and data of clinical medicine. Public Law 92–603, the Professional Standards Review . . .