Rural Reach Webinar - Lab Tests We Regret: When Less is More

Dr. Menaka Pai and Dr. Kate Miller bring us "Lab Tests We Regret: When Less is More" for the next Rural Reach Webinar.

Please note, this is not an accredited event.

Free for SRPC Members / $50 for General Admission

Date: Thursday, January 23rd 2025
Time: 8:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)
[click to convert to your local time]
Location: Zoom - The link will be in the confirmation email

Can't make it live? No worries! The session will be recorded and shared with registered attendees. 

Description:

answers and instead of the reassurance we sought, we have a cascade of follow-up labs we also regret ordering.  We'll briefly explore why we keep ordering tests only to regret it again and again before tackling the 3 tests the presenters regret the most: D-Dimer, ANA and SPEP. By helping you better understanding the value and limits of these tests as well as the right time and place for them, we will help reduce PLRS - Post Lab Remorse Syndrome.

Objectives:

• Describe the factors that result in us ordering tests of low value with high frequency.
• Review the use (and misuse) of three commonly ordered assays: Serum protein electrophoresis (aka. The Rabbit Hole),  Antinuclear antibody (aka. The Rheumatologist’s Recurring Nightmare) and D-dimer (aka. The Blood Pressure Modifier).
• Want a tattoo that reads “treat the patient, not the numbers".
  
  

Presenter:

Dr. Menaka Pai is a Professor of Medicine at McMaster University, and a hematologist and laboratory medicine physician in her hometown of Hamilton, Ontario. She is Hematology Lead for the Ontario Laboratory Medicine Program. She is passionate about gender issues in hematology, quality improvement, knowledge translation, clinical practice guideline development, travel, salt and vinegar potato chips, and reading retro children's fiction to her two little boys (currently: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing).

Dr. Kate Miller is a generalist family physician whose 25 year career has encompassed all aspects of family medicine including emergency medicine and intrapartum care.  Now an UDRW (urban doctor with a rural heart), she lives and works in Guelph although she continues to find opportunities to work in rural communities to satisfy her soul.  She is a passionate teacher of family medicine currently as Assistant Professor at McMaster University.  In her precious off hours, Dr. Miller loves to hike, camp and travel and is trying to adjust to her newly empty nest.  She is a confirmed and unapologetic cat person.