Making preliminary radiographic reports available to referring clinicians: current status

To investigate current practice regarding the release of resident's preliminary imaging reports to physicians providing clinical care to patients. The second objective was to evaluate compliance with the American College of Radiology (ACR) practice guidelines.

With the assistance of the Society of Chairman of Academic Radiology Departments (SCARD), a survey was sent to its members. This survey asked if members felt that residents' preliminary reports should be released to referring physicians. If yes, the survey requested information as to how this was done and the mechanism by which the referring physicians were informed that the report was preliminary.

Twenty-eight surveys were completed. Twenty-five respondents felt that preliminary reports should always be made easily available to referring physicians; three did not. In 25 of 28 institutions, the referring clinicians can obtain preliminary information by talking to the trainee face-to-face or by phone. In 12 institutions, clinicians could obtain preliminary reports by phoning into the hospital dictation system and listening to the dictated report. Twenty-six of the 28 institutions permit referring clinicians to obtain preliminary reports by viewing/reading these reports in picture archiving and communication system (PACS) or hospital information system (HIS) systems, before they are finalized.

Almost all academic radiology departments responding to this survey do make electronic trainee reports available to referring clinicians. Compliance with ACR guidelines is good, but not perfect. Most institutions no longer provide the ability to listen to the dictation.