Eight Common Procedures that Physicians and Patients Should Question

The American Academy of Family Physicians has put out a list of medical procedures that are usually unnecessary and might be hazardous: 1. Don’t do x-rays for low back pain in the first 6 weeks of discomfort. 2. Don’t use antibiotics for sinusitis at least for 7 days. 3. Pap smears for women under 21 y.o. and those with hysterectomies are unnecessary. 4. Dexa scans for osteoporosis screening should not start before age 65 for women and 70 for men if there are no significant risk factors. 5. Do not do baseline EKGs or screening exercise EKGs in low risk patients. 6. For patients who have passed out without neurologic signs, MRI and CT scans are unnecessary. 7. A D-dimer blood test is much more cost-effective than expensive imaging in checking for a blood clot in the leg. 8. Preoperative evaluations need not include a chest x-ray. See www.aafp.org www.healthcelebration.com