Emergency department image interpretation accuracy: The influence of immediate reporting by radiology

The misinterpretation of radiographs is recognised as a key source of emergency department (ED) errors, regardless of clinician profession. This article compares ENP and medical staff accuracy in the interpretation of musculoskeletal trauma X-rays between immediate and delayed radiology reporting pathways.

The data for this study was drawn from a larger pragmatic randomized controlled trial of immediate reporting. Patients were recruited and randomly assigned to immediate or delayed reporting arms and treated according to group assignment. Image interpretive accuracy between ED staff groups and arms was undertaken together with an assessment of the influence of immediate reporting on patient pathways and journey times.

Six hundred and seventy-four radiographic examinations were performed (598 patients). There was a significant reduction in the interpretive errors in the immediate reporting arm for all ED clinicians (proportional difference=4.2%; 95% CI [0.017,0.068]; p=0.001), but no significant difference in proportion of interpretive errors was evident between ENPs and medical staff. Patient journey times, discharge and referral rates were not significantly different between study arms, although admission rates varied for medical staff collectively.

ENP X-ray interpretation accuracy is comparable with that of medical staff, but immediate reporting was seen to reduce errors without increasing patient journey times.