Best Reporting Practices for Multipart CT Scans: A Pilot Evaluation and Construction of the Optimal Analysis Methodology.

Abstract

Communication failure between radiologists and referring physicians contributes to a substantial portion of medical errors. With a rising number of complex imaging orders and subspecialization among radiologists, the best method of reporting those results has yet to be evaluated. The aim of this study was to create, validate, and pilot a survey to reveal best practices for communication of radiologic findings, specifically addressing multipart CT scans of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis. A survey consisting of Likert-type and narrative response items was created, tested, and validated. It was then administered to physicians of five specialties (including radiology) at an urban quaternary care academic center and an affiliated community hospital. The pilot survey results revealed that there was a small preference among both radiologists and referring physicians to have a single radiologist read in a single report for a multipart CT scan, rather than multiple subspecialist radiologists and reports. The findings were supported by narrative response explanations as well and demonstrate the importance of a rapid, clear, and cohesive image interpretation, despite the growing trend of radiology subspecialization. The results of the survey also confirmed its validity through an assessment with Messick's five sources of validity evidence. The survey's validity indicates its generalizability to a future national survey to physicians of multiple specialties to further identify the preference of physicians on reporting of complex radiologic studies, in the setting of increased radiologic subspecialization.