Evaluation of abdominal pain: clinicians' performance compared with three protocols.
Clinical findings in ambulatory patients with abdominal pain, presenting themselves to general medical practitioners, were analyzed by three different protocols: an algorithm using a branched-chain logic, a linear discriminant rule, and bayesian analysis. All methods missed some serious diagnoses. None was as effective as the clinician at distinguishing nonspecific abdominal pain (NSAP) from more serious conditions.
D000005:Abdomen; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008722:Methods; D009722:Nurse Practitioners; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D012306:Risk; D014218:Triage; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs