Mah Muneer Khan, Bahadar Ali Khan.
Pre-operative chest x-rays: are we doing too many for too much?.
J Med Sci Jan ;19(1):28-30.

Objective: To study whether preoperative chest x-rays are sometimes unnecessarily done in patients admitted to surgical wards. Material and Methods: This observational study was conducted in a Surgical Ward of Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan from 22 February 2010 to 22 March 2010. All those patients who were admitted to a single surgical ward and had their chest x-ray done preoperatively were included in the study. Results: The total number of patients included in the study was 89. Of them, 28 (31.36%) had a positive history of cardiopulmonary problems. Only 5 patients were examined before the x-ray was done. Out of these 5 patients, 3(60%) had positive findings on chest examination. Seventy nine (88.76%) x-rays were advised by house surgeons. The anesthaetist had a look at the chest x-ray in only 9(10%) cases. The total expenditure of the hospital was Rs. 4445.55 for all the 89 cases that were included in our study. Conclusion: Strict adherence to guidelines of pre-operative chest x-rays can decrease the burden on the hospital in terms of finances and work load.

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