Acute vertigo is a frequent reason for consultation in primary care and poses diagnostic challenges for general practitioners. Although vestibular disorders are addressed during undergraduate medical training, knowledge retention over time is uncertain, while clinical experience accumulates with practice and may contribute to refining diagnostic reasoning....
No actionable change for audiologists; findings highlight training gaps in non-specialist physicians diagnosing acute vertigo, but do not alter audiology practice protocols.
Improving front-line diagnostic accuracy for acute vertigo could reduce delayed referrals to audiology and neurotology services.
- 01Cross-sectional design used written patient vignettes to assess diagnostic reasoning for acute vertigo.
- 02Compared general practitioners (GPs) against final-year medical students.
- 03Published in PLoS ONE (2026); broad-access journal with open peer review.
- 04Findings may inform curriculum design for vertigo assessment in medical education.
- 05Vignette-based tools are a validated but indirect measure of real-world diagnostic performance.
Vignette-based tools can assess differences in diagnostic reasoning for acute vertigo between GPs and medical students.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42455821
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0347129.
- Journal
- PLoS ONE
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 3
- Population
- General practitioners and final-year medical students
- Intervention
- Vignette-based diagnostic reasoning assessment for acute vertigo
- Comparator
- Final-year medical students vs. general practitioners
Primary outcomes
Diagnostic accuracy for acute vertigo using vignette-based tools; Comparison of diagnostic reasoning between GPs and medical students