Physicians acknowledge ordering unnecessary tests often due to fear of unlikely diagnosis, malpractice

A survey of emergency physicians provides insight into reasons behind the estimated $210 billion spent annually on medically unnecessary tests and procedures.”Physicians said they feel tremendous pressure not to be wrong, while acknowledging that some of the tests they order are for non-medical reasons,” said lead author Hemal Kanzaria, MD, an emergency physician at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar with support from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.Over 85% of the 435 emergency physicians surveyed said they believe that too many diagnostic tests are ordered in their own departments. Even more striking, almost all respondents (97%) acknowledged personally ordering some “medically unnecessary” radiology tests, defined as imaging studies the physician would not order if there were no external pressures and s/he was only concerned with providing optimal medical care.

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Studies show young people ‘wish they were better informed about sex’

Researchers investigating how young men and women learn about sex found that a gap exists between the type of sex education young people want and what they receive.The researchers also identified differences between how men and women learn about sex and relationships. The two studies, published in BMJ Open, utilized data from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3) – the largest scientific study of its kind in the UK.”The terrain young people have to navigate as they are growing up has changed considerably over the past 20 years and it will inevitably continue to do so,” says study author Dr. Clare Tanton. “This means that while we need a more structured approach towards sex and relationships education, we must also be able to adapt to these changing needs.”In one of the two studies, data from Natsal-3 for 3,869 participants, conducted between 2010 and 2012, was compared with data from surveys conducted in 1990-1991 and 1999-2001, in order to assess how sources of information about sex may have changed over time.

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