18 Apr Itemized Reporting A Must For Radiologists

ImagingBiz.com | Image interpretation should remain a task solely for radiologists, who should utilize itemized reporting and standardized language to produce clear and unequivocal reports, according to results of two surveys published in the April edition of Radiology.

The surveys—dubbed “Clinicians’ Opinions, Views, and Expectations Concerning the Radiology Report” (COVER) and “Radiologists’ Opinions, Views, and Expectations Concerning the Radiology Report” (ROVER)—were designed by Jan M. L.Bosmans, MD, of the department of radiology at Antwerp University Hospital and the University of Antwerp in Belgium, and colleagues. Their intent, the Radiology report indicates, was “to investigate and compare the opinions and expectations regarding the radiology report of radiologists and referring clinicians and to identify trends, discordance and discontent.” A total of 3,884 clinicians and 292 radiologists were invited to complete the surveys from the second half of 2008 through the first half of 2009, with 113 radiologists, 435 clinical specialists, and 282 general practitioners opting to do so.

A majority of all physicians responding to the surveys disagreed with the question “Do clinicians feel they are better able to interpret an imaging study in their own discipline than radiologists?”, but nearly one-quarter of referring specialists indicated that they could better interpret a study in their specialty. Almost one-half (42.8%)  of specialists and 84% of general practitioners said radiology reports “often mention important issues the clinicians would not have noticed on the images.” Participants expressed more consistent responses regarding clinical information and clinical questions; nearly all clinicians and radiologists concurred that the radiologist must be aware of the clinical question the clinician wants answered.

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