Table 1.

Ten most common generic questions asked by 103 family doctors. Values are numbers (percentages)

Generic question	Questions asked*	Questions pursued†	Questions answered‡
What is the cause of symptom X?	94 (9)	8 (9)	4 (50)
What is the dose of drug X?	88 (8)	75 (85)	73 (97)
How should I manage disease or finding X?§	78 (7)	23 (29)	19 (83)
How should I treat finding or disease X?	75 (7)	25 (33)	18 (72)
What is the cause of physical finding X?	72 (7)	13 (18)	6 (46)
What is the cause of test finding X?	45 (4)	18 (40)	13 (72)
Could this patient have disease or condition X?	42 (4)	6 (14)	4 (67)
Is test X indicated in situation Y?	41 (4)	12 (29)	10 (83)
What is the drug of choice for condition X?	36 (3)	17 (47)	13 (76)
Is drug X indicated in situation Y?	36 (3)	9 (25)	7 (78)

^*Percentage is proportion of total questions asked (n=1101). ^†Percentage is proportion of questions asked. 

^‡Percentage is proportion of questions pursued. ^§Not specifying diagnostic management versus treatment.