Evaluating discrepancy rates of radiology resident provisional reports for cross-sectional body imaging studies at a tertiary hospital

Abstract

Introduction Urgent radiological studies obtained during on-call hours are often preliminarily read by on-call residents before consultant radiologists finalise the reports at a later time. Such provisional radiology reports provide important information to guide initial patient management. This study aims to determine discrepancy rates between provisional reports and final interpretations, and to assess the clinical significance of such discrepancies. Methods This retrospective quality assurance project reviewed a total of 1218 cross-sectional imaging studies of the body (thorax, abdomen and pelvis) done between July 2015 and May 2016 during on-call hours. The studies included 1201 Computed tomography (CT) scans and 17 Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans. Studies with incomplete or unavailable reports were excluded. Conclusions of both the provisional and final reports of each study were reviewed for concordance, with reference to the full report if needed. Discrepancies were graded according to the ACR 2016 RADPEER scoring system. Results There were 1210 studies with complete reports. Discrepant reports were noted in 183 (15.1%) studies. Of these, 89 (7.3%) were assessed to be clinically significant and the majority of these (55) were due to interpretations which should be made most of the time. CT of the abdomen and pelvis were the most prone to discrepant reports, accounting for 148 cases (80.9%). Conclusion The majority of preliminary reports for on-call body scans were concordant with final interpretations. The discrepancy rates for provisional body scan reports provided by residents while on call were comparable to those previously reported in literature.