Since 2005, the Department of General Practice (CAHPRI) of Maastricht University in the Netherlands has been conducting a research project into gut feelings in general practice (in Dutch called het pluis en niet-pluis gevoel). Members of the project group include researchers from Maastricht University and the University of Antwerp.

At the same time, a group at Hannover University (Germany) has been doing research into the ‘sense of alarm’ (Alarm Gefühl) among German GPs. Afterwards, a French group at Brest University, conducted comparable research into the role of gut feelings (‘ça colle et ça cloche) in the French general practice.

These groups have presented their results at conferences of the European General Practitioners Research Network (EGPRN) and WONCA, and formed since 2008 a network with European researchers from all over Europe for collaborative research, named COGITA expert group.

In February 2010, one of the Dutch researchers defended a PhD entiteld ‘Gut feelings in general practice’. In November 2018, a French GP defended her PhD entitled ‘The sense of alarm as a tool preventing error in primary care’. A PhD student in Spain is working on the program.

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