How this fits in

Clinician gut feelings are an acknowledged part of clinical decision making, but the literature on gut feelings lacks consistency. This systematic review found that GPs’ gut feelings may be predictive of cancer, and are conceptualised as a rapid summing up of multiple verbal and non-verbal patient cues in the context of the GPs’ knowledge and experience. Non-verbal cues that trigger gut feelings appear to be reliant on continuity of care and clinical experience, but remain poorly recorded and inaccessible to researchers. It is possible that gut feelings triggered by clinical features outside of cancer guidelines highlight the limitations of current referral criteria.