AAFP adds five more 'Choosing Wsely' recommendations

(HealthDay)—Five additional recommendations have been made as part of the Choosing Wisely campaign, according to a report published by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

In an effort to reduce unnecessary health care spending and reduce patient harms, the AAFP, together with 34 other medical specialty organizations, released its third list of Choosing Wisely recommendations for procedures or tests that physicians and patients should question.

According to the most recent list, routine screening for prostate cancer using a prostate-specific antigen test or digital rectal exam should not be performed. Furthermore, pelvic or other physical exams are not required to prescribe oral contraceptive medications. Antibiotics should not be prescribed for children aged 2 to 12 years with otitis media, with non-severe symptoms, where observation (deferring antibiotic treatment for 48 to 72 hours) is a reasonable option. In children aged 2 to 24 months, voiding cystourethrogram should not be routinely performed in first febrile urinary tract infection. Finally, adolescents should not be screened for scoliosis.

"As primary care specialists, family physicians are the frontline providers for millions of Americans—so we have a duty to make sure our members are doing everything they can to provide the right care, for the right patient, at the right time," AAFP president-elect Reid Blackwelder, M.D., said in a statement.