I was interviewed and quoted in the article, “How GPs can use epidemiology to help diagnose coronavirus”, written by Mr Matt Woodley, published in newsGP.

Woodley M. How GPs can use epidemiology to help diagnose coronavirus. newsGP. 2020 October 28. Available from: https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/how-gps-can-use-epidemiology-to-help-diagnose-coro [PDF]

Quotation

But while agreeing with the ‘general logic’ and premise of the paper, RACGP Expert Committee – Quality Care (REC–QC) member Dr Michael Tam told newsGP he believes it needs to be understood in a wider context.

‘It is mostly implausible that a clinician in frontline clinical practice with a patient in front of them will quantitatively estimate the pre-test probability, and use the positive and negative likelihood ratios of a specific test to compute the posterior probability, and from this, decision-making into clinical actions,’ he said.

‘However, I would expect this sort of reasoning to guide and justify clinical policy decisions and guideline algorithms.’

Instead, Dr Tam prefers the method described in a 2011 paper published in BMJ Evidence-based medicine.

‘This qualitative approach enhances the reasoning heuristics that many experienced clinicians will employ, rather than circumventing it,’ he said.