ABSTRACT
A variety of factors will modify both the frequency of prognostication and its accuracy. To begin with, there is the element of diagnostic skill. Obviously, the physician who does not recognize that a patient’s life is threatened will not manifest behavior contingent on such appraisal. Important differences between doctors exist in regard to other determinants of behavior. Even the most competent of doctors, however, will be hampered in his prognostication and in his management of the patient with potentially fatal disease if the state of our knowledge is defective, if there are not reliable data available to allow accurate guesses to be made. The act of prognostication is beset by numerous obstacles. The competence of the doctor, as already indicated, will also affect the prognosis. So, in all likelihood, will the hospital and the allied health personnel caring for the patient.
