Physician![]() Physician articles1. Eyes :: Surgical errors rare but serious in ophthalmic proceduresSurgical confusions—for instance, operations involving the wrong site, the wrong patient or the wrong procedure—occur infrequently in eye surgery procedures, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Although most surgical confusions cause little or no permanent injury, they may involve serious consequences for the patient, physician and profession, yet could often be prevented. 2. Imaging :: Economic motivation may affect how often some physicians order imaging studies Diagnostic imaging has been one of the fastest growing areas of health care in recent years. Some of that increase can be attributed to the availability of improved imaging studies, but whether some imaging utilization may be inappropriate has been an issue of concern. Now a study from the Institute for Technology Assessment in the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Department of Radiology finds that physicians who consistently refer patients to themselves or members of their own specialty for imaging studies, rather than to radiologists, are more likely to order such studies for a variety of medical conditions. The results suggest that economic motivation could underlie some of the excess referrals. 3. Lupus :: Patients, Physicians Invited to Lupus Education Day Patients and physicians are invited to a Lupus Education Day to learn more about an oft-misunderstood disease, but one for which several potential new treatments are in development. 4. Antibiotic :: Predictors of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing among primary care physicians In this retrospective cohort study that included 852 primary care physicians in Quebec, international medical graduates, physicians with high practice volumes and those who were in practice longer were more likely to prescribe antibiotics inappropriately. 5. Smoking :: UK failing heavily addicted smokers, says RCP The Royal College of Physicians said that the UK was failing to help heavily addicted smokers who find it the most difficult to give up. Speaking at the launch of a new College report ‘Harm reduction in Nicotine Addiction: Helping people who can't quit', Professor John Britton, Chair of the RCP Tobacco Advisory Group, called for a new approach in favour of harm reduction and said that there was far more that could be done to save lives: |