Table 5.

Diagnostic Option Selected by Participants for Each of Four Examination Scenarios Presented as Part of a Survey of 684 Medical Students, Internal Medicine Residents, and Academic General Internists at Three US Medical Schools, 2008

Case	Scenario	Group	Option selected by participant,			P value ^†
Case	Scenario	Group	Tell patient s/he has condition	no. (%) ^* Order tests to confirm diagnosis	Tell patient s/he does not have condition	P value ^†
Ascites	Presence of bulging flanks, shifting dullness, fluid wave, and leg edema	Students	180 (71) ^‡	73 (29)	2 (1)	.02
		Residents	204 (77) ^‡	59 (22)	1 (0)
		Faculty	138 (84) ^‡	27 (16)	0 (0)
		Total sample	522 (76) ^‡	159 (23)	3 (1)
	Absence of bulging flanks, shifting dullness, fluid wave, and leg edema	Students	1 (0)	207 (81) ^‡	47 (18)	.02
		Residents	6 (2)	230 (87) ^‡	28 (11)
		Faculty	2 (1)	145 (88) ^‡	18 (11)
		Total sample	9 (1)	582 (85) ^‡	93 (14)
Heart failure	Presence of jugular venous distention, rales, third heart sound, murmur, and leg edema	Students	211 (83) ^‡	44 (17)	0 (0)	.3
		Residents	215 (81) ^‡	49 (19)	0 (0)
		Faculty	140 (85) ^‡	25 (15)	0 (0)
		Total sample	566 (83) ^‡	118 (17)	0 (0)
	Absence of jugular venous distention, rales, third heart sound, murmur, and leg edema	Students	2 (1)	203 (80) ^‡	50 (20)	.7
		Residents	2 (1)	228 (86) ^‡	34 (13)
		Faculty	2 (1)	139 (84) ^‡	24 (15)
		Total sample	6 (1)	570 (83) ^‡	108 (16)
Strepto-coccal pharyngitis	Presence of fever, tonsillar swelling and exudates, and tender anterior cervical lymphadenopathy	Students	155 (61) ^‡	100 (39)	0 (0)	<.01
		Residents	155 (59) ^‡	108 (41)	1 (0)
		Faculty	113 (69) ^‡	51 (31)	1 (1)
		Total sample	423 (62) ^‡	259 (38)	2 (0)
	Absence of fever, tonsillar swelling and exudates, and tender anterior cervical lymph nodes	Students	3 (1)	182 (71) ^‡	70 (28)	.9
		Residents	2 (1)	184 (70) ^‡	78 (30)
		Faculty	3 (2)	115 (70) ^‡	47 (29)
		Total sample	8 (1)	481 (70) ^‡	195 (29)
Acute anterior cruciate ligament tear	Positive response to the anterior drawer and Lachman tests	Students	179 (70) ^‡	76 (30)	0 (0)	.01
		Residents	150 (57) ^‡	113 (43)	1 (1)
		Faculty	97 (59) ^‡	68 (41)	0 (0)
		Total sample	426 (62) ^‡	257 (38)	1 (0)
	Positive response to the anterior drawer test and negative response to the Lachman test	Students	45 (18)	206 (81) ^‡	4 (2)	.07
		Residents	26 (10)	228 (86) ^‡	10 (4)
		Faculty	22 (13)	139 (84) ^‡	4 (2)
		Total sample	93 (14)	573 (84) ^‡	18 (3)

Because of rounding, not all numbers add to 100%.

^†

P values reflect comparisons between groups for each examination scenario.

^‡

This was the most common group choice for each scenario