Helen Macdonald discusses the key points from Day 1 of Preventing Overdiagnosis […]
Too much medicine
Breaking good news: an essential skill for avoiding too much medicine?
“Unfortunately, your ultrasound scan is normal.” Watching a trainee’s video consultation I speculated about his next steps; my fears were realised. “So, we still do not know what is wrong […]
Giles Maskell: The new chest x ray
What would be required if we were seriously to contemplate the replacement of the chest x ray with CT scanning in the acute setting? […]
Avril Danczak: Is “early cancer diagnosis” a meaningless concept?
I often see articles, posters, and advertisements stating that early diagnosis of cancer “saves lives.” An implication that general practitioners are not “doing enough” or that people “ignore symptoms” usually […]
Medical trainees should question why they preemptively order “routine” tests and investigations
Medical students from around the world utter the Hippocratic Oath when graduating medical school as an age-old commitment to professionalism. Yet, much of what we are taught during medical school […]
Karen B Born et al: Learning how to choose wisely
Across the countries with Choosing Wisely campaigns, thousands of recommendations of “Things clinicians and patients should question” have been published. These lists and recommendations, familiar to many practising clinicians, outline tests, […]
The overdiagnosis community targets solutions
Documenting overdiagnosis is the easy part. The real challenge is how to manage it […]
Alice Hodkinson, David Spitzer, and Iona Heath: Overdiagnosis of end of life
Doctors are much more likely to cause problems by underdiagnosing end of life than by overdiagnosing it […]
Choosing Wisely around the world: Professionalism as a force to reduce unnecessary care
The Choosing Wisely campaign emerged in the United States with the intention of galvanizing physicians to reduce unnecessary care. While excess care is costly, physician leadership on this problem through Choosing Wisely […]
Marica Ferri: What can we learn from the evidence based medicine manifesto?
The Evidence Based Medicine Manifesto (EBM manifesto) has been launched to improve the implementation of evidence based interventions by pulling together a clear set of achievable goals, and a strong […]