Antibiotic use in otitis media: patient simulations as an aid to audit
Diagnostic and prescribing practices in otitis media vary, and audit is difficult because doctors may not see comparable cases. Seven general practitioners took part in a pilot study to discover if simulated patients evoked the same diagnostic and treatment responses as reveal patients. Forty-eight...
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Published in | British Medical Journal (Clinical research ed.) Vol. 283; no. 6296; pp. 883 - 884 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
British Medical Journal Publishing Group
03.10.1981
British Medical Association BMJ Publishing Group LTD |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Diagnostic and prescribing practices in otitis media vary, and audit is difficult because doctors may not see comparable cases. Seven general practitioners took part in a pilot study to discover if simulated patients evoked the same diagnostic and treatment responses as reveal patients. Forty-eight patients entered the study over three weeks and provided data for two simulations; one included the doctor's description of the ear and the other a photograph instead. Each doctor was shown the two sets of simulations and asked to state his diagnosis and treatment. The diagnoses each doctor reached agreed significantly with those reached on the simulations of the same patients. The decisions to prescribe antibiotics also showed good agreement. |
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Bibliography: | local:bmj;283/6296/883 ark:/67375/NVC-MC298H2L-H istex:39C99A334634DB0AD2667F0BC3630A2C89A1F253 href:bmj-283-883.pdf PMID:6793159 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0267-0623 1468-5833 |
DOI: | 10.1136/bmj.283.6296.883 |