The routine use of contrast (both oral and IV, and certainly rectal) is unnecessary for the majority of abdominal CT scans performed in the ED.  At least that is what the literature says over and over.

A recent Time Magazine cover article is the latest in a series of eye-opening reports about runaway hospital charges. Here we break down some of the critical numbers to know.

With Washington embroiled over whether to cut entitlements, it can be easy to lose sight of sensible ways to cut major healthcare waste. Here are six cost-cutting solutions presented by Donald Berwick which could save the healthcare system upwards of a trillion dollars.

Should antibiotics be used in conjunction with incision and drainage of a simple abscess? Recent studies suggest not, yet they leave room for physician discretion at the bedside.

Think you know everything about the lowly abscess? Think again. New research suggests you might want to use ultrasound before you lance, and suture before you pack. 

You rarely hear of problems with the old standby, TMP-SMZ, but there is a growing body of literature suggesting that physicians need to be wary of the drug’s potentially serious side effects.

The cost of running a high-quality CME event has gone up, but physicians aren’t willing to cover the tab. That tension has put the squeeze on medical education, bringing into focus the role of industry in the future of CME.

The trend of voluminous, exhaustive discharge instructions puts the pressure on patients to understand and identify complex risk factors, like infection. According to the research, this is probably a bad idea.

One of the trickiest diagnoses in emergency medicine is pulmonary embolism. The problem is not a lack of information; the amount of literature on this topic is truly staggering. The problem with making the PE diagnosis is that ordering the definitive test, a CT pulmonary angiogram, is a big deal.

It gets a little tiring, and certainly frustrating, to be on the receiving end of recurring mandates from “the experts” regarding the care provide by physicians and nurses. It seems that CMS and its watch dog, the Joint Commission (JC), relish adding more and more requirements onto healthcare staff because, obviously, we just don’t seem to understand the importance of initiating these behaviors on our own.