Contribution of history-taking, physical examination and laboratory investigation to diagnoses for medical outpatients

Objective To quantitatively evaluate relative contribution of medical history,physical examination and laboratory investigation to diagnoses for medical outpatients.Methods In total,145 medical visitors to the outpatient department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) during October 10 to 16,2008 were recruited and followed-up for 12 months.Results Nineteen of 145 visitors (13.1%) were lost during the period of follow-up and diagnoses were established for 86 of them (68.3%)finally with medical history and for 20 (15.9%) with physical examination or laboratory investigation,respectively.Confidence index of internists in their correct diagnosis increased to 7.3 with medical history and to 7.9 and 8.7 with physical examination and laboratory investigation in average,respectively.Conclusions Most visitors to internal medicine department could be diagnosed correctly with medical history only.On the basis of physical diagnosis,selection of adequate laboratory investigation for them is critical to improvement of clinical diagnosis. Key words: Diagnosis; Medical history taking; Physical examination; Outpatients