Documenting gut feelings or instincts in medical records as part of your clinical decision-making will not constitute a medicolegal risk, indemnity providers say.

Last week, a systematic review and meta-analysis suggested that GP ‘gut feelings’ can be highly predictive of cancer and should be incorporated into clinical guidelines.

Led by University of Oxford researchers, the review reported that being partly guided by gut feelings in making referral decisions became more effective as a doctor’s clinical experience and familiarity with their patient increased (see box below).

Although reassuring for many, the British Journal of General Practice study also raises questions about the implications of explicitly recording gut feelings in medical records, particularly if the doctor were ever subject to a complaint.