Incidentally discovered pulmonary nodules

Hospitalists encounter this situation all the time when chest CTs are done for other reasons. A nice summary post at ERCAST addresses the topic. The emergency physician's perspective on this is pretty much the same as the hospitalist's. Informing the patient and documenting it in the medical record (including stating in the record what the patient was told) is our responsibility, not long term follow up and definitive evaluation. The post has some tips and scripts for how to have the conversation, some pearls about pulmonary nodules and a link to the Fleischner Society recommendations.