5 ms·

I think it depends on the efficacy of the cheaper procedure. It's rare for the cheaper procedure to be as accurate as the more expensive one. If you knew the tu

by tdhoot 7y ago

I think it depends on the efficacy of the cheaper procedure. It's rare for the cheaper procedure to be as accurate as the more expensive one. If you knew the tuning fork was 80% accurate and an x-ray 100% accurate, would you still take it? I'd personally pay extra to make sure I was diagnosed correctly.

robocat 7y ago
It depends upon the medical issue, how much you can afford, and how much you know about the downsides if you should have the issue. If it looks straight, a hairline fracture will heal properly if unstressed for a few weeks. Probably not a huge risk if wrong. You could constrain a broken finger yourself if you are any good at looking up information and applying it.
- alt_f4 7y ago
  But if it heals wrong, the fix is to have it broken again by a specialist and constrained. it hurts as hell and costs 3x as much. Hence, going back to the point about large deductibles for simple procedures being total bullshit..
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  > If it looks straight, a hairline fracture will heal properly if unstressed for a few weeks. If the fracture isn't diagnosed and the person is one who tends to engage in the kinds of activities that lead to a suspected potential fracture of the bone in question, it probably won't be unstressed for a few weeks.
dragonwriter 7y ago
From the initial story the tuning fork would be followed up by an x-ray on a positive result; so you don't really care about overall accuracy but false negative rate (since a higher false positive rate than x-ray is immaterial, since the follow-up x-ray constraints the false positive rate.) While the exact test done may not be common, its very common for any of a variety of broadly similar (in that they work by inducing motion which will almost certainly be quite painful if there is a fracture and but usually be tolerable otherwise) "does this hurt" tests to be used in a similar role with suspected fractures, and an x-ray only ordered if they indicate a likely fracture.
- Stratoscope 7y ago
  Indeed you have it right. In fact the PA did go through a whole set of range of motion and "does it hurt" tests which all indicated no fracture. The tuning fork was just a last check to verify that, and of course I had the option to go get an X-ray if I wanted it regardless. I just didn't see any need at that point, since the treatment would just end up being "take it easy on your hand and don't engage in any sports for a while."

by tdhoot 7y ago

robocat 7y ago

It depends upon the medical issue, how much you can afford, and how much you know about the downsides if you should have the issue. If it looks straight, a hairline fracture will heal properly if unstressed for a few weeks. Probably not a huge risk if wrong. You could constrain a broken finger yourself if you are any good at looking up information and applying it.

alt_f4 7y ago
But if it heals wrong, the fix is to have it broken again by a specialist and constrained. it hurts as hell and costs 3x as much. Hence, going back to the point about large deductibles for simple procedures being total bullshit..
dragonwriter 7y ago
> If it looks straight, a hairline fracture will heal properly if unstressed for a few weeks. If the fracture isn't diagnosed and the person is one who tends to engage in the kinds of activities that lead to a suspected potential fracture of the bone in question, it probably won't be unstressed for a few weeks.

dragonwriter 7y ago

From the initial story the tuning fork would be followed up by an x-ray on a positive result; so you don't really care about overall accuracy but false negative rate (since a higher false positive rate than x-ray is immaterial, since the follow-up x-ray constraints the false positive rate.) While the exact test done may not be common, its very common for any of a variety of broadly similar (in that they work by inducing motion which will almost certainly be quite painful if there is a fracture and but usually be tolerable otherwise) "does this hurt" tests to be used in a similar role with suspected fractures, and an x-ray only ordered if they indicate a likely fracture.

Stratoscope 7y ago
Indeed you have it right. In fact the PA did go through a whole set of range of motion and "does it hurt" tests which all indicated no fracture. The tuning fork was just a last check to verify that, and of course I had the option to go get an X-ray if I wanted it regardless. I just didn't see any need at that point, since the treatment would just end up being "take it easy on your hand and don't engage in any sports for a while."