Hoarseness Guidelines Continue to Draw Scrutiny: Panel members question evidence-based criteria

Continued Discussion

Marvin Fried, MD, of the Special Society Advisory Council, which is part of the AAO-HNS Board of Governors, said he hopes such discussions can lead to progress. “We’ve taken the emotion out of it now and we’re now looking at it objectively,” he said. “What the Academy has done is extremely positive—creating guidelines for the future. We’re actively having people participate in this.”

But he added, “The concept is good. The document is not. That is unacceptable.”

Dr. Eibling said that eventually there will be systems to guide treatment but that medicine is not there yet. “I think the emphasis is going to become more on how do we design clinical information systems that assist in decision-making,” he said. “We’re a long ways from it…. Even though memory is flawed, it’s oftentimes, I suggest most of the time, the best we have.”