Docs Order Too Many Narcotics, Pricey Scans for Back Pain: Study
Docs Order Too Many Narcotics, Pricey Scans for Back Pain: Study
Physical therapy and over-the-counter painkillers usually more appropriate, guidelines say
"There's a huge potential for cost savings, to improve the quality of care and reduce unnecessary procedures that can lead to patient harm," Mafi said.
Why do so many physicians seem to be ignoring the guidelines? The study doesn't offer insight into that question, but Mafi suspects the desire for a "quick fix" is at play. "The problem is that it really takes a lot of patience to manage back pain," he said.
To make matters more complicated, the existing treatments don't cure back pain but only treat its symptoms, he said. Even so, "patients want a cure, and doctors want to be able to give them a cure."
Dr. Donald Casey Jr., a general internist and chief medical officer for the NYUPN Clinically Integrated Network, wrote a commentary about the new study and offers ideas about how to fix things. It's not a matter of doctors not doing their jobs properly, he said. Instead, "it's that health care has gotten so complex."
What to do? For one, he said, "we've got to put better training in place to help sort out which of these patients falls into the category of more serious problems versus something that's more run of the mill."
The study appeared online July 29 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Docs Order Too Many Narcotics for Back Pain: Study
Physical therapy and over-the-counter painkillers usually more appropriate, guidelines say
"There's a huge potential for cost savings, to improve the quality of care and reduce unnecessary procedures that can lead to patient harm," Mafi said.
Why do so many physicians seem to be ignoring the guidelines? The study doesn't offer insight into that question, but Mafi suspects the desire for a "quick fix" is at play. "The problem is that it really takes a lot of patience to manage back pain," he said.
To make matters more complicated, the existing treatments don't cure back pain but only treat its symptoms, he said. Even so, "patients want a cure, and doctors want to be able to give them a cure."
Dr. Donald Casey Jr., a general internist and chief medical officer for the NYUPN Clinically Integrated Network, wrote a commentary about the new study and offers ideas about how to fix things. It's not a matter of doctors not doing their jobs properly, he said. Instead, "it's that health care has gotten so complex."
What to do? For one, he said, "we've got to put better training in place to help sort out which of these patients falls into the category of more serious problems versus something that's more run of the mill."
The study appeared online July 29 in JAMA Internal Medicine.