Medical education and experience affecting intra-observer variability

Intra-observer variability for history and simple test evaluation was assessed in a group of 10 final-year medical students and in five senior hospital staff members. Substantial agreement between the results of two evaluations made 7-10 days apart was found in 20 out of 30 instances for staff and in 17 out of 60 instances for students. However, there were instances when variability seemed to be unrelated to the academic standard of students or to the training and experience of staff. It is concluded that the nature of diagnostic procedure and present training in medical school or long-term experience may not be the only factors that affect intra-observer variability in everyday simple diagnostic applications.