Health Fit For Life ? Patient Beware?when a doctor visit ends in ...

How often do we find ourselves being sent down to the lab for blood work? Or hear from a friend that she had to have an MRI for a migraine? Or have a CT scan ordered up like aspirin? Whether we see it on ?Grey?s Anatomy? or experience on our own midnight visit to the emergency room, tests are pervasive in our Western health care system.

Now I am one who is all about being conservative when it comes to my health and I would rather err on the side of caution. But come on. These tests are coming at us from right and left. Many, if not most, people feel uncomfortable questioning their doctors judgment or reasoning. In a survey by Consumer Reports carried out with 8,000 people without heart disease history participating, most said they were prescribed at least one test designed for people with heart disease symptoms. And most agreed to the tests without asking any pertinent questions such as:

1. What are you looking for specifically?
2. How did you arrive at your decision to have me take this test?
3. What are my symptoms that make you want me to have this test?
4. How accurate is the test?
5. Are there any other ways you can get confirmation of what you are looking for?
6. What are the potential complications of the test?
7. What happens or how would I know if the test is performed incorrectly
8. What will the solution be if results of test show an abnormal condition?
9. What is the chance of misdiagnosis?
10. How often does this test produce a false positive result?
11. How invasive is [a particular] test?
12. What are the chances of surgery as a result of the tests?

Asking these questions is your right. With each one, you can learn more about what the designated test can mean to your health?its risks and its benefits.

Orly Avitzur, M.D., a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and a clinical instructor at the Yale University School of Medicine as well as a medical consultant to the New York Rangers, makes the case for looking for a doctor who practices evidence-based medicine whereby he or she considers all the research ??from that found in published guidelines, clinical studies and expert reviews, before deciding whether a test is needed.? She goes on to say, ?You [ as patient] can [do this], too.?

Good news is that doctors are no longer the only ones who can access medical information. Guidelines can be found at The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (www.ahrq.gov) and the National Institutes of Health (www.nih.gov). They are specifically written for patients.

You can also see if your doctor is following these guidelines and recommendations at Preventive Services Task Force (www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstfix.htm)

And if you want to make sense of research and read reviews on doctors, the Cochrane Collaboration (www.cochrane.org) is the place to go.

Enjoy and use this article, but please be legal. Include this resource block and all is good?LouAnn Savage is publisher and editor of The Weekly Healthline, an online health publication. She is lecturer, researcher and marketer for health and fitness programs and product that advance authentic health. Follow or contact LouAnn at these online locations: http://www.HealthFitforLife.com, http://www.Savage.TeamAsea.com and on www.twitter.com/louannsavage and Facebook. She is a sales representative for Asea.

Be healthy, live well!

LouAnn

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Source: http://healthfitforlife.com/patient-beware%E2%80%A6when-a-doctor-visit-ends-in-tests-and-more-tests-part-i/

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