Further observations on diagnosis and management of general practice respiratory illness using simulated patient consultations.

Twenty general practitioners co-operated in a study of the decision-making process in general practice respiratory illness. Ten simulated standard-patient consultations were used, each being included twice, once to make a decision on diagnosis and once to make a decision on management.Comparison of simulated behaviour with previous studies of observed and self-recorded behaviour showed encouraging agreement.

Awareness and experience of general practitioners of selected drug interactions.

The awareness of general practitioners of selected adverse drug interactions has been assessed. The drugs studied included adrenergic neurone blockers, warfarin, antidiabetic agents, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors. The findings must be interpreted with caution but they suggest that there is a clear need to improve the effectiveness of communication of information about adverse drug interactions if unnecessary iatrogenic disease is to be avoided.

Intestinal spirochaetosis.

An abnormal condition of the large intestine is described in which the surface epithelium is infested by short spirochaetes. Diagnosis can be made by light microscopy. A review of 14 cases diagnosed by rectal biopsy and 62 cases involving the appendix shows no consistent symptom complex.