ACR appropriateness criteria on recurrent symptoms following lower-extremity angioplasty.

Lower-extremity arteriopathy patients can be managed nonsurgically, but there is no standard algorithm for follow-up. The authors present a consensus on appropriate postangioplasty studies in the setting of claudication or a threatened limb. Physical examination with measurements of the ankle-brachial index should be the first step in patients with recurrent symptoms.

Clinicians' perceptions of the value of ventilation-perfusion scans.

Rationale: The goal of this investigation was to understand clinicians' perceptions of the probability of pulmonary embolism as a function of V/Q scan results of normal, low, intermediate, and high probability.

Methods: A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 429 clinicians at a single academic medical center. The response rate was 44% (188 of 429).

Clinic turmoil and staff transitions.

The effects of the July academic rotation on the course of patient treatment in an outpatient clinic were studied. The rotation time was found to be associated with substantial changes in clinic patients' behavior in treatment. The transfer of recent clinic admissions to new therapists was associated with a high rate of dropping out of treatment.