title: Why perform a routine history and physical examination?
abstract: Science uses two types of data--one for generating hypotheses and a second for testing hypotheses. In clinical medicine the history and physical examination generate the data used for making hypotheses about what could possibly be wrong with the patient; but the various laboratory and imaging procedures are used for hypothesis-testing, ie, deciding which of the possible problems is actually the one bothering the patient. Although comparisons between physical examination maneuvers and imaging procedures may tell something about the precision of the former, in general such comparisons can tell little about the intrinsic worth of one versus the other, because these two different types of procedures generate data with two completely different types of usage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, St. Louis University, Mo.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Sapira
mesh_terms: D003662:Decision Theory; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine; D006801:Humans; D008487:Medical History Taking; D010808:Physical Examination