Teaching chest X-ray reading for child tuberculosis suspects.

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Pediatric Radiology
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• Childhood tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis relies heavily on chest X-rays (CXRs), but accurate interpretation can be challenging.
• Standardized approaches and training are crucial for improving diagnostic accuracy in pediatric TB suspects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance the interpretation of chest X-rays (CXRs) for diagnosing tuberculosis (TB) in children.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a training program designed to improve pediatric CXR reading skills.

Main Methods:

• Development of a standardized reporting and recording form for pediatric TB CXR diagnosis.
• Creation of an image bank with categorized anteroposterior and lateral CXR pairs.
• Implementation of a 1-day training course for clinicians, including pre- and post-course assessments.

Main Results:

• The training course involved 27 participants, with a median post-training score increase indicating improved overall CXR reading ability (P = 0.017).
• Sensitivity and specificity for TB detection did not show statistically significant improvement post-training (P = 0.09 and P = 0.06, respectively).

Conclusions:

• A 1-day training course utilizing a systematic approach and standardized form resulted in a limited but statistically significant improvement in clinicians' pediatric CXR reading ability.
• Further research may be needed to optimize training strategies for enhancing diagnostic accuracy in pediatric TB detection via CXR.