[Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: 2. Short-term prognostic scores for acute exacerbations]. / Bronchopneumopathie chronique obstructive: 2. Scores pronostiques a court terme en cas d'exacerbation aiguë.

The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD is a slowly progressive disease whose course is frequently the subject of acute episodes, of variable severity, although, in general, reversible, called acute exacerbations. In the past five years (between 2008 and 2013), seven prognostic scores have been published to try to assess the short-term risk of these acute exacerbations. Their components and characteristics are analysed and commented upon. An Internet program with a detailed compilation of the main features of these scores (www.medhyg.ch/scoredoc) supplements this review.

[Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: I. Long-term prognostic scores]. / Bronchopneumopathie chronique obstructive: 1. Scores pronostiques a long terme.

The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD will probably be in the year 2020 the third cause of death in the world. It appears therefore appropriate to try to make available tools capable of assessing the prognosis of patients with this disease. In the first part of this series of two papers, the question of the prognosis of stable COPD over several years is addressed. Eight prognostic scores are discussed, all of them published between 2004 and 2012. Their components and characteristics are analysed and commented upon, with, in particular, emphasis on their discriminating power. An Internet program (www.medhyg. ch/scoredoc) supplements this review.

Brief report: beyond clinical experience: features of data collection and interpretation that contribute to diagnostic accuracy.

BACKGROUND: Clinical experience, features of data collection process, or both, affect diagnostic accuracy, but their respective role is unclear. OBJECTIVE, DESIGN: Prospective, observational study, to determine the respective contribution of clinical experience and data collection features to diagnostic accuracy. METHODS: Six Internists, 6 second year internal medicine residents, and 6 senior medical students worked up the same 7 cases with a standardized patient. Each encounter was audiotaped and immediately assessed by the subjects who indicated the reasons underlying their data collection. We analyzed the encounters according to diagnostic accuracy, information collected, organ systems explored, diagnoses evaluated, and final decisions made, and we determined predictors of diagnostic accuracy by logistic regression models. RESULTS: Several features significantly predicted diagnostic accuracy after correction for clinical experience: early exploration of correct diagnosis (odds ratio [OR] 24.35) or of relevant diagnostic hypotheses (OR 2.22) to frame clinical data collection, larger number of diagnostic hypotheses evaluated (OR 1.08), and collection of relevant clinical data (OR 1.19). CONCLUSION: Some features of data collection and interpretation are related to diagnostic accuracy beyond clinical experience and should be explicitly included in clinical training and modeled by clinical teachers. Thoroughness in data collection should not be considered a privileged way to diagnostic success.

Will there be room for the teaching of internal medicine in a university hospital?

To answer the question addressed, two working groups, one made of the staff of a University clinic, the other one composed of practising general internists, have discussed the assets and weaknesses of a University service of Internal Medicine for postgraduate training. The groups agreed on a number of points: patients' characteristics (complexity and co-morbidities), quality of teaching, method acquisition for clinical reasoning, as well as absence of exposure to ambulatory patients and of follow-up. The groups differed in their views related to the lack of training in psychiatry and psychosocial problems or to hospital dysfunctions. Opening of internal medicine to primary care appears to be necessary at the same time as individual qualities among the senior staff are to be developed, such as critical analysis and self-questioning.

Teaching Diagnostic Skills: Clinical Vignettes or Chief Complaints?

Two formats of case presentation are traditionally used for teaching problem-solving skills: clinical vignette or chief complaint formats. While the first one is more commonly used, it does not completely reflect the actual problem-solving process during a real encounter, which may hamper the learners to integrate separately acquired data gathering skills into their reasoning process and affect their diagnostic performance in practice. The present study compared diagnostic accuracy when the reasoning stimulus was a case vignette containing all diagnostic information versus the patient's chief complaint only. Forty-two medical students, 53 residents and 60 general internists participated in the study. Diagnostic accuracy was significantly lower for the chief complaint format at the student, resident, and practitioner levels. Analysis of the data gathered in the chief-complaint format revealed that faulty diagnostic decisions resulted from a failure to gather critical data. The results suggest that data gathering techniques, semiology, and medical reasoning should be trained in association and that this effort should be pursued beyond medical school.