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David L. Sackett, MD, MSc Epid, FRCPC

JAMA. 1992;267(19):2638-2644.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

THIS background paper will introduce and explain the terms and concepts that are being employed in the series of overviews on the rational clinical examination that begins in this issue of THE JOURNAL. It includes definitions and explanations of certain key concepts, clinical examples, guides for reading clinical journals about a diagnostic test, and a blank "working table" that you can use to apply the concepts on your own. Accordingly, you may want to clip all or part of this and keep it handy as you read the overviews in this and subsequent issues.

See also pp 2645 and 2650.

Later background papers in this series will discuss selected issues in the precision and accuracy of the clinical examination in greater detail, or extend them to more complex diagnostic situations (readers who are impatient for these extensions can read about them now¹).

Of course, the precision and accuracy of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, McMaster University, and the Hamilton Civic Hospitals, Hamilton, Ontario.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Henderson General Division, Room 408, McMaster Clinic, 711 Concession St, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8V 1C3 (Dr Sackett).

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