Many doctors ignore heart drug guidelines

[MMiz]

Many doctors ignore heart drug guidelines

CHICAGO - Most hospitalized heart failure patients are sent home without widely recommended inexpensive pills, despite a program to get more doctors to follow treatment guidelines, a study suggests.

Only one-third of 12,565 patients eligible for the drugs got them — even though they were treated at 201 hospitals that had voluntarily enrolled in the American Heart Association's Get with the Guidelines program.

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[daedalus]

These "guidelines" are set up to compare doctors and hospitals are so called "best practices" however, they deceive. They cannot take into account individual circumstances and if followed they do not allow doctors to use clinical judgment. Sure, a medication may be widely available to treat heart failure but is it the best medication for this particular patient? Should doctors prescribe what is best for their patient, or what the government says is a best practice medication?

Hell, EMTs could become cardiologists if all they had to do was prescribe what the guidelines tell them to. If systolic BP is over 140, pt gets xyz ace inhibitor at this dosage.

 

[Summit]

These "guidelines" are set up to compare doctors and hospitals are so called "best practices" however, they deceive. They cannot take into account individual circumstances and if followed they do not allow doctors to use clinical judgment. Sure, a medication may be widely available to treat heart failure but is it the best medication for this particular patient? Should doctors prescribe what is best for their patient, or what the government says is a best practice medication?

Hell, EMTs could become cardiologists if all they had to do was prescribe what the guidelines tell them to. If systolic BP is over 140, pt gets xyz ace inhibitor at this dosage.

well said