A comment on my post below about unnecessary testing before cataract surgery presents a striking example of one problem in medicine–the inability of specialists from different disciplines to agree on and incorporate best practices in patient care:
In my experience this process (pre-op testing prior to cataract surgery) is completely driven by anesthesiology.
At my institution we have fought to change this process to no avail so recently we started having topical days without any anesthesia staff present. We give the patient a mild oral anti-anxiety medication (if needed) and do the short case under topical conditions. Without anesthesia monitoring the cost is even lower.
SOURCE: Not Running a Hospital – Read entire story here.
