The authors state "a GP is unlikely to see more than one case every 8
-10 years".
The key question, therefore, is how likely is it that the GP will
remember this excellent article next time he has a case in front of him?
This is in addition to the thousands of other disease presentations we
would like them to remember.
This is clearly a completely unrealistic expectation and, unless GPs
and clinicians in general are provided with diagnosis decision support
systems that remind them to think of a disease when it's appropriate, the
delays in diagnosis will not change, irrespective of how many articles
like this appear.
These decision aids are now readily available, validated and should
be used to reinforce this type of education in daily practice.
Competing interests:
The author is the co founder and CEO of Isabel Healthcare, a company that produces the Isabel diagnosis decision support system (www.isabelhealthcare.com)
Rapid Response:
Very useful but how will GPs remember this?
The authors state "a GP is unlikely to see more than one case every 8
-10 years".
The key question, therefore, is how likely is it that the GP will
remember this excellent article next time he has a case in front of him?
This is in addition to the thousands of other disease presentations we
would like them to remember.
This is clearly a completely unrealistic expectation and, unless GPs
and clinicians in general are provided with diagnosis decision support
systems that remind them to think of a disease when it's appropriate, the
delays in diagnosis will not change, irrespective of how many articles
like this appear.
These decision aids are now readily available, validated and should
be used to reinforce this type of education in daily practice.
Competing interests: The author is the co founder and CEO of Isabel Healthcare, a company that produces the Isabel diagnosis decision support system (www.isabelhealthcare.com)