The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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One of the tenets of general practice is that continuity of care has a beneficial effect on patient care. However, little is known about how continuity can have an impact on the diagnostic reasoning of GPs. ⋯ The concept of an individual threshold for the utilisation of primary care would explain how GPs use their knowledge of individual patients and their previous help-seeking behaviour for their diagnostic decision making. Whether the assumption behind this concept is valid, and whether its use improves diagnostic accuracy, remains to be investigated.