• Medientyp: E-Artikel
  • Titel: Reasons For Requesting Radiographs In An Accident Department
  • Beteiligte: de Lacey, Gerald; Barker, Anthony; Wignall, Brian; Reidy, John; Harper, John
  • Erschienen: British Medical Association, 1979
  • Erschienen in: The British Medical Journal
  • Sprache: Englisch
  • ISSN: 0007-1447
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  • Beschreibung: <p>A prospective study of 500 patients was performed to determine the reasons for requesting radiographs in an accident and emergency department. Most examinations were requested either to confirm a clinically suspected anbormality or because of difficulty in excluding a significant bone injury on clinical grounds alone. Several requests were also made to reassure the patient. Medico-legal reasons were relatively few, and those made purely because the doctor feared litigation probably accounted for only 5% of requests. Undue emphasis on the medicolegal aspects of accident and emergency radiography in the United Kingdom is unhelpful in that it directs attention away from the real reasons for x-ray referral. Although a reduction in the number of x-ray examinations is desirable on the grounds of expense and radiation exposure it is likely to be obtained only by improving experience and acumen in the clinical assessment of injuries.</p>