That's impressive, and not in a reassuring way.
I remain disturbed by the amount of overtesting that transpires, although
I've been able to make some small headway in other labs with the following
doctrine:
All testing serves to answer questions. If you do not intend to act on the
answer, do not ask the question (or perform the test). If the outcome of
the test will not affect your management, then you do not need the test.
I'd be willing to wager a very substantial sum of money that a malpractice
lawyer in the USA would salivate like Pavlov's dog upon hearing that
statement.
---
Dr. Steven Angel, MD, FRCPC
General Pathologist
Royal University Hospital
Saskatoon, SK
S7N 0W8
>From: "Williams David G (RLN) City Hospitals Sunderland - Clinical
>Scientist" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: 'Steve Angel' <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
>Subject: RE: Tumour marker abuse
>Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 09:23:55 +0100
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>
>I would agree with that. A recent audit showed that 30% (minimum) of
>"urgent" results weren't looked at. Most of our tumour "markers" are also
>singleton requests, presumably to rule out the possibility of
>carcinogenesis, although we do keep on trying to tell them that this
>actually doesn't work.
>
>David G Williams
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Steve Angel [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: 14 July 2005 13:42
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Tumour marker abuse
>
>
>For the most part, I find such behaviour robotic in nature. With all due
>respect to our clinical colleagues, orders such as tumour markers,
>electrolytes, and the hemogram on a routine basis are mere reflexes -
>neurons above the level of the spinal cord seldom get involved.
>
>My own soapbox is lab utilization, can't you tell?
>
>
>
>---
>Dr. Steven Angel, MD, FRCPC
>General Pathologist
>Royal University Hospital
>Saskatoon, SK
>S7N 0W8
>
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