St. Paul’s Hospital pioneers cutting number of routine chest X-rays

In intensive care units across the developed world, patients have long been given daily chest X-rays for no good reason other than decades of habit. So when doctors at St. Paul’s Hospital decided to trim the unnecessary, potentially hazardous and wasteful practice over the past year and a half, they saved $40,000 by ordering nearly 70 per cent fewer routine X-rays for about 1,500 ICU patients. In the process, they spared patients from X-ray radiation and freed up staff time and other resources for more-proven interventions. Read the full story here.