29 May Increasing Speed Of Radiology Interpretations Increases Interpretation Errors

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Evgeniya Sokolovskaya, DO, MD
Monmouth Medical Center
Long Branch, NJ 07740.

Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Dr. Sokolovskaya: As the utilization of diagnostic imaging has continued to increase in recent years, the workload of radiologists has correspondingly risen. Radiologists are under pressure to increase productivity by increasing workload volume. Previous studies have shown that increasing the number of reporting exams per day can affect the accuracy of radiologic interpretations, increase an error rate and degrade radiologists’ performance in the detection of pathology as viewing time per study decreases. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine if faster reporting speed when reading CT imaging studies of the Abdomen and Pelvis, results in higher number of misses and interpretation errors. The results of our study showed that the number of major misses and interpretation errors significantly increased at the faster reporting speed.

Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Sokolovskaya: The findings of our study suggest that the increasing speed of radiology interpretations results in a higher number of major misses and may have a strong impact on the quality of patient care.

Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Sokolovskaya: A larger, multicenter study with a greater number of cases interpreted by the radiologists and case selection that is similar to the average workload, would be helpful to confirm our findings and better elucidate the implications on patients’ safety of reporting at a faster rate for prolonged periods of time.

Citation:

The Effect of Faster Reporting Speed for Imaging Studies on the Number of Misses and Interpretation Errors: A Pilot Study

Evgeniya Sokolovskaya, DO, MD^, , Tejas Shinde, MD, Richard B. Ruchman, MD, Andrew J. Kwak, MD, Stanley Lu, MD, Yasmeen K. Shariff, MD, Ernest F. Wiggins, MD, Leizle Talangbayan, MD

Journal of the American College of Radiology

Available online 21 May 2015

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Evgeniya Sokolovskaya, DO, MD, Monmouth Medical Center, & Long Branch, NJ 07740. (2015). Increasing Speed Of Radiology Interpretations Increases Interpretation Errors 

Last Updated on June 7, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD