More Medicine Isn't Better Medicine
Reader Comments
Radiation and Imaging
After an appropriate examination of your patient, a physcian should have some idea that a problem is present or not and if so what other tests are required. Imaging should never replace the clinical evaluation, if it does then we are not diligent in our duty to guide a patient appropriately thru their health problems. Thus image for results only when needed.
Physician, don't lose your important position as a gatekeeper of proper health care delivery to those who are frightened and depending upon your training and wisdom for help. Champion your patient in receiving only the tests that are necessary to quickly get to the answer to their problem.
If an imaging examination, that requires radiation, will assist the patient get to their diagnosis, and there is no other avenue to secure that information, then by all mean order the exam. Otherwise, be the physcian, the compassionate listener, diagnostician, and healer that patients look for when they are ill and seeking your help.
U.S. News's Avery Comarow has been editor of the America's Best Hospitals annual rankings since they first appeared in 1990. His reporting on clinical medicine, from the latest cholesterol guidelines to robotic surgery, has been driven by the question: What does this mean to patients? And that is the perspective he brings to his observations and commentaries on the increasing number of programs by hospitals and other healthcare providers to improve care and patient safety.
