Shelley Nan Weiner1. 1. CareCore National, LLC, Wappingers Falls, NY, USA. sweiner@carecorenational.com.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine if the quality of medical imaging reports differs significantly between radiologists and nonradiologists. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective nonblinded review of randomly selected chest and long bone x-ray reports by orthopedists and primary care physicians compared with randomly selected imaging reports generated by radiologists. METHODS: We randomly selected 1 report from each of 50 high self-referring physicians privileged by 2 metropolitan New York area health plans for both bone and joint studies and chest x-rays for a total of 200 reports (50 bone and joint x-rays from each plan and 50 chest x-rays from each plan). We compared them with 50 randomly selected radiologist-generated reports. The reports were evaluated for quality based on the American College of Radiology's Guideline for Communication: Diagnostic Radiology. The data were analyzed by the 2-sample t-test between proportions at the 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: Radiologists consistently provided higher-quality medical imaging reports than nonradiologists. CONCLUSIONS: To improve imaging service quality, all providers should be held to the same standards for reporting and communication of results.
OBJECTIVE: To determine if the quality of medical imaging reports differs significantly between radiologists and nonradiologists. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective nonblinded review of randomly selected chest and long bone x-ray reports by orthopedists and primary care physicians compared with randomly selected imaging reports generated by radiologists. METHODS: We randomly selected 1 report from each of 50 high self-referring physicians privileged by 2 metropolitan New York area health plans for both bone and joint studies and chest x-rays for a total of 200 reports (50 bone and joint x-rays from each plan and 50 chest x-rays from each plan). We compared them with 50 randomly selected radiologist-generated reports. The reports were evaluated for quality based on the American College of Radiology's Guideline for Communication: Diagnostic Radiology. The data were analyzed by the 2-sample t-test between proportions at the 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: Radiologists consistently provided higher-quality medical imaging reports than nonradiologists. CONCLUSIONS: To improve imaging service quality, all providers should be held to the same standards for reporting and communication of results.
Authors: Fernando de Castro Guimarães Rios Ignácio; Luis Ronan Marquez Ferreira de Souza; Giuseppe D'Ippolito; Mayara Martins Garcia Journal: Radiol Bras Date: 2018 Sep-Oct