Endocarditis risk stratification with scores: what about reproducibility? The case of NOVA and DENOVA scores for Enterococcus faecalis bacteremia.

Summary: Doctors use special checklists (called NOVA and DENOVA scores) to see if a blood infection has spread to the heart. But do different doctors get the same score for the same patient? A new study asked 32 doctors to score 8 patients. The results showed that doctors often disagree, especially on things like how long symptoms lasted or where the infection started. Because the scores aren't perfect, doctors still need to use their own best judgment to keep patients safe.