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Family Practice Vol. 18, No. 3, 243-245
© Oxford University Press 2001

Editorial

The diagnostic process in general practice: has it a two-phase structure?

Anders Baerheim

Section for General Practice, Ulriksdal 8C, N-5009 Bergen, Norway.

Baerheim A. The diagnostic process in general practice: has it a two-phase structure? Family Practice 2001; 18: 243–245.

Received 17 January 2000; Revised 13 September 2000; Accepted 8 January 2001.

The diagnostic process is a complex transition process that begins with the patient's individual illness history and culminates in a result that can be categorized. A patient consulting the doctor about his symptoms starts an intricate process that may label him, classify his illness, indicate certain specific treatments in preference to others and put him in a prognostic category. The outcome of the process is regarded as important for effective treatment, by both patient and doctor.

Various models have been proposed for diagnostic work in clinical practice. Sackett describes four main strategies.1 Pattern recognition is the instant recognition of a disease, for instance diagnosing Downs syndrome after one look at the patient. In the hypothetico-deductive strategy, one performs some form of test to check a hypothesis, a tentative diagnosis. The two last strategies that he mentions are the algorithm strategy and the . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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