Rucker L, Hubbell F A, Akin B V, Frye E
West J Med. 1987 Sep;147(3):287-91.
Investigators have failed to show the usefulness of screening electrolyte-sodium, potassium, chloride and bicarbonate-blood urea nitrogen and glucose levels. In spite of this, we observed that that practice continues to be widely used at our university medical center. Using a form of consensus analysis, we examined the records of 301 admissions to the medicine service to determine whether laboratory tests were done for diagnostic or screening purposes and whether screening test results led to changes in patient management. Of the 1,764 tests done, 716 (40.6%) were for screening purposes. Only 2 (0.3%) screening test abnormalities led to any therapeutic changes, and many false-positive tests led to unnecessary diagnostic retesting.
研究人员未能证明筛查电解质（钠、钾、氯和碳酸氢盐）、血尿素氮和血糖水平的有用性。尽管如此，我们观察到这种做法在我们大学医学中心仍被广泛使用。我们采用一种共识分析形式，检查了内科服务部门301例住院病例的记录，以确定实验室检查是用于诊断还是筛查目的，以及筛查检查结果是否导致了患者治疗方案的改变。在进行的1764项检查中，716项（40.6%）是用于筛查目的。只有2项（0.3%）筛查检查异常导致了任何治疗方案的改变，而且许多假阳性检查导致了不必要的诊断性重新检测。
