Introduction:

The clinical method represents the guide that every physician should follow in the search for the definitive diagnosis. In recent years, it has been stated that it is not correctly applied, with negative effects both for the physician and for the patient and his family.

Objective:

To evaluate the application of the clinical method in the Internal Medicine service of the Martín Chang Puga General Teaching Hospital in the municipality of Nuevitas.

Methods:

An observational descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. The universe was made up of 2,402 patients discharged from the Internal Medicine service and 240 were selected by simple random probabilistic sampling.

Results:

Errors were found in the application of the clinical method in all its stages. The physical examination was affected in 53.7% of the medical records reviewed, the diagnostic discussion in 52.9% and the medical evolution in 50.4%. In 78.3 % of the medical records there was correspondence between the proposed diagnoses. The evaluation was poor and fair in 52.9 % of the medical records.

Conclusions:

The application of the Clinical Method is still deficient, and there is an urgent need to train health professionals who know and adequately master the objectively structured Clinical Method.

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