An Intelligent Reminder System Reduces Deficiencies and Errors in Ultrasound Reports

We designed a computer-based, integrated intelligent reminder system to reduce the deficiencies and errors in ultrasound (US) reports. In this study, we assessed the performance of this system and evaluated its impact on the quality of US reporting.

Ultrasound reporting deficiencies or errors were divided into 2 categories: missing items (including outpatient or inpatient number and clinical diagnosis) and content errors (including measurement data, sex-related, and laterality errors). The intelligent reminder system was designed in Visual Basic for Applications (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA) and integrated with the US system. It automatically detects reporting errors before printing of the report and provides real-time prompts for correction of the errors. We compared the US reporting deficiencies and errors during the 20 months before and after implementation of the system.

Before implementation of the system, deficiencies/errors were detected in 2.26% (8841 of 391,230) of US reports compared with 0.12% (530 of 444,215) of reports after implementation of the system (P < .0001). After adoption of the system, the reported item deficiencies were improved more than the content deficiencies, with the most notable improvement in clinical diagnosis. Sex-related errors were reduced from 7 cases to nil after use of the intelligent reminder system. No laterality errors were found before and after the implementation of the system.

The intelligent reminder system within the US system significantly reduced deficiencies and errors, improving the quality of the report.