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Why doctors should acknowledge and embrace gut feelings.

Dr Ann Van den Bruel
Dr Ann Van den Bruel

Many general practitioners will recognize that little voice in their head questioning whether you’ve got it right. Or a feeling you get that something is wrong with a patient but you’re not able to say what and why.

The BBC 4 Radio programme Inside Health recently discussed gut feeling as a diagnostic tool with Ann Van den Bruel. Ann has done research on the value of gut feeling for diagnosing serious infections in children, such as pneumonia and meningitis. The study showed that in general practice, gut feeling is the most powerful predictor of a serious infection in a child.