You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Use of terms

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

There are many terms in medicine indicating possibility, probability, doubt and uncertainty. Research has shown however that there is a such wide variety of interpretation by doctors, both GP's and hospital specialists, that most terms are of little specific value in communication and in effect are synonyms for: Probability value approx Definite = Certain 96-100 %

Likely/probable ) 56-95 % ) Equal/equivocal ) = Possible 46-55 % ) Unlikely/improbable ) 6-45 %

Definitely not = Impossible 0-5 %

For example, the probabilities meaned by doctors for words such as 'classic', 'consistent', and 'compatible' differ very widely: only 'always' and 'never' produce any degree of agreement.

ref: Doubt and Certainty in the Electronic Health Record, M Bainbridge & I Trimble, Proceedings of the Primary Health Care Specialist Group of the The British Computer Society, September 1994

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.