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An Opinion On “Heart Treatments Overused, Study Says”
February 2nd, 2012 by admin
Studies like this are not unusual for Cardiologists. They are constantly evaluating what works and what doesn’t. They are also in my mind the least likely to be swayed by marketing, because they always want to see the evidence and it better be convincing. I should know since I worked on the small business ideas end helping a number of start ups in the Cardiology arena, re-organized a medical device manufacturer, part of which was the creation of a new Cardiology division, and ran an electrophysiology sales force.
There is a typical cycle in the field. A new device becomes available and the Cardiologists experiment with its use trying to determine for themselves its benefits and against what patient groups. If its profitable, as PTCA is, they do a lot. Over time studies are done by members in the field to determine the proceedures impact on extending life; the gold standard for all Cardiologists, who often care little about quality of life. These studies presented at annual conferences like the American and European College of Cardiology then begin to limit the proceedures use to those that benefit the most. While there are some cardiologists that will do proceedures that are marginally required, for the most part unnecessary proceedures are a judgment call and tend to diminish as protocols are established based on hard data. You should not read this article as an indictment against the proffession rather understand this is a group of highly disciplined professionals that undertake the studies to improve their practice. As for the Doctor that performed 30 PTCA’s in one day, since the proceedure take about 30 minutes that means he worked at least 15 hours in one day, something that in my mind was dangerous and unnecessary. Frankly if it were my sales force I would not have fetted him on this feat since I believe it sends the wrong message.
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