H ealthcare providers obtaining diagnostic tests on patients that don't need to be completed and patients brow beating providers to get certain tests and studies done because they [patients] want them done are common scenes in hospitals and provider offices. Perhaps not a daily occurrence for every provider but certainly an occurrence that happens everyday across the U.S. and I suspect other countries as well, even those with national health insurance.
Physicians often will order simple x-ray studies on patients that come to emergency departments with minor orthopedic injuries or complaints when there is no clinical indication for the test. Providers often say "They don't need the x-ray, it just makes them feel like I did something for them". Last week this is what one of the providers I work with said. Other comments like "They came here for an x-ray so we will get one for them". At other times the shoe is on the other foot when patients with little to no medical knowledge demand that certain diagnostic tests be completed, again for minor ailments. Quite often these patients become indignant when physicians try and explain that there is no indication or need for tests. Patients become angry. Several patients want expensive work ups completed which include CT scans and MRIs for minor non-acute complaints. In emergency departments patients can be seen calling their families and friends saying "they're going to let me go, they're not even going to do anything..."
Many Americans subscribe to the more is better when it comes to their health: more doctors, more tests, more hospital time. However a decade of inclusive studies suggests that all those visits and tests and hospital stays are often a waste of money and can expose a patient to unnecessary risk.
Often statements made by these patients in an attempt to convince providers to order unnecessary tests relates to the cost of their request. Again last week a patient told me they didn't care what it costs because they had insurance and they [insurance] would be paying for it.
People on both sides of the fence complain about healthcare costs but seem to do little to mitigate them. What will it take to replace the current mind set of restaurant medicine with one of pragmatism and need?
Physicians often will order simple x-ray studies on patients that come to emergency departments with minor orthopedic injuries or complaints when there is no clinical indication for the test. Providers often say "They don't need the x-ray, it just makes them feel like I did something for them". Last week this is what one of the providers I work with said. Other comments like "They came here for an x-ray so we will get one for them". At other times the shoe is on the other foot when patients with little to no medical knowledge demand that certain diagnostic tests be completed, again for minor ailments. Quite often these patients become indignant when physicians try and explain that there is no indication or need for tests. Patients become angry. Several patients want expensive work ups completed which include CT scans and MRIs for minor non-acute complaints. In emergency departments patients can be seen calling their families and friends saying "they're going to let me go, they're not even going to do anything..."
Many Americans subscribe to the more is better when it comes to their health: more doctors, more tests, more hospital time. However a decade of inclusive studies suggests that all those visits and tests and hospital stays are often a waste of money and can expose a patient to unnecessary risk.
Often statements made by these patients in an attempt to convince providers to order unnecessary tests relates to the cost of their request. Again last week a patient told me they didn't care what it costs because they had insurance and they [insurance] would be paying for it.
People on both sides of the fence complain about healthcare costs but seem to do little to mitigate them. What will it take to replace the current mind set of restaurant medicine with one of pragmatism and need?