Evidence-based physical examination

It has been suggested that the focused clinical examination should be claimed as a specialist GP skill. Integral to this objective is the ability to select and interpret an examination to accurately support the diagnostic process. This article will introduce you to evidence-based physical examination (EBPE), and how it can be used in your day-to-day work with patients. You will learn how to make evidence-based and efficient use of the physical examination, while also improving your skills in diagnosis. The connection between information gathered in history taking, the development of diagnostic hypotheses, and the choice of specific examinations to confirm or refute these hypotheses will be explored using simple clinical scenarios. You will be introduced to the statistical tools used in EBPE that enable you to make an estimation of the likelihood of a patient having a particular diagnosis once the examination has been performed.