Physical exams alone may not reliably diagnose pneumonia in children, national study finds

When a child has symptoms that could be pneumonia, doctors often listen to the child's lungs with a stethoscope to help make a diagnosis. But a new national study led by physician-scientists at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and PECARN finds that doctors may not always hear or interpret the same things when examining the same child, illustrating limitations of the physical examination.