National Physicians Alliance: The Top 5 Ways To Improve Primary Care; Family Medicine

1. Don’t do imaging for low-back pain in the first six weeks unless certain red flags are present.
2. Don’t routinely prescribe antibiotics for acute mild to moderate sinus inflammation unless certain symptoms last at least seven days or improve, then worsen.
3. Don’t order annual ECGs or other cardiac screening for low-risk patients with no symptoms.
4. Don’t perform Pap smears on patients younger than 21 years of age or in women who had a hysterectomy for benign disease.
5. Don’t use DEXA screening for osteoporosis in women under age 65 years or men under 70 with no risk factors.

Source: National Physicians Alliance, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, May 23, 2011
Source URL: http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/archinternmed...

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