Emergency physician predictions by consulting services (N=454)
| Test characteristics, % (95% CI) | |||||
| n | Sensitivity | Specificity | PPV | NPV | |
| General surgery | 47 | 100.0 (88.0 to 100.0) | 63.6 (31.6 to 87.6) | 90.0 (75.4 to 96.7) | 100.0 (56.1 to 100.0) |
| Gynaecology | 23 | 75.0 (42.8 to 93.3) | 90.9 (57.1 to 99.5) | 90.0 (54.1 to 99.5) | 76.9 (46.0 to 93.8) |
| Orthopaedic surgery | 58 | 84.0 (63.1 to 94.7) | 87.9 (70.9 to 96.0) | 84.0 (63.1 to 94.7) | 87.9 (70.9 to 96.0) |
| Other surgical* | 46 | 81.8 (59.0 to 94.0) | 95.8 (76.9 to 99.8) | 94.7 (71.9 to 99.7) | 85.2 (65.4 to 95.1) |
| Intensive care | 3 | 100.0 (31.0 to 100.0) | ND† | 100.0 (31.0 to 100.0) | ND† |
| Internal medicine | 122 | 96.5 (90.8 to 98.9) | 28.6 (5.1 to 69.7) | 95.7 (89.7 to 98.4) | 33.3 (6.0 to 75.9) |
| Cardiology | 35 | 90.0 (66.9 to 98.2) | 86.7 (58.4 to 97.7) | 90.0 (66.9 to 98.2) | 86.7 (58.4 to 97.7) |
| Other medicine‡ | 33 | 85.0 (61.1 to 96.0) | 100.0 (71.6 to 100.0) | 100.0 (77.1 to 100.0) | 81.2 (53.7 to 95.0) |
| Oncological services§ | 27 | 86.9 (65.3 to 96.5) | 75.0 (21.9 to 98.7) | 95.2 (74.1 to 99.7) | 50.0 (13.9 to 86.0) |
| Family medicine | 18 | 100.0 (78.1 to 100.0) | ND† | 100.0 (78.1 to 100.0) | ND† |
| Psychiatry | 42 | 68.2 (45.1 to 85.3) | 80.0 (55.7 to 93.4) | 78.9 (53.9 to 93.0) | 69.5 (47.0 to 85.9) |
| Total | 454 | 90.5 (86.7 to 93.5) | 84.2 (77.0 to 89.8) | 92.8 (89.8 to 95.0) | 79.6 (73.4 to 84.7) |
*Other surgical specialties including otolaryngology, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, oral maxillofacial surgery, plastic surgery, thoracic surgery, trauma surgery, urology and vascular surgery.
†Calculation cannot be performed because of division by zero.
‡Other medicine services including haematology, gastroenterology, infectious disease, nephrology, neurology and respirology.
§Oncological services include medical, radiation and haematological oncology.
N, total number of patients; n, number of patients for that service; ND, not determinable; NPV, negative predictive value; PPV, positive predictive value.