Routine Use of Structured Reporting in Whole-body Trauma CT Facilitates Quality Improvement.

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Trauma Care

Background:

• Structured reporting (SR) is increasingly adopted in medical imaging.
• Experience with SR in whole-body computed tomography (WBCT) for trauma is limited.
• Investigating SR's value in WBCT for trauma is crucial for optimizing reporting processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of routine SR implementation in WBCT for trauma patients.
• To assess changes in reporting time, reporting errors, and referrer satisfaction.
• To determine the feasibility and benefits of SR in a clinical trauma setting.

Main Methods:

• Prospective quantification of reporting time and errors before and after SR implementation.
• Survey-based assessment of referrer satisfaction using a 5-point Likert scale.
• Comparison of data collected over 3 months pre-SR and 6 months post-SR implementation.

Main Results:

• Median reporting time significantly decreased with SR (p=0.02).
• The rate of reports completed within one hour increased from 55.1% to 68.3%.
• Reporting errors decreased, particularly for residents (16.4% to 12.6%) and board-certified radiologists (8.8% to 2.7%).
• Referrer satisfaction showed improvement, with significant gains in report standardization (p=0.03).

Conclusions:

• Routine SR in WBCT for trauma is feasible in clinical practice.
• SR implementation leads to reduced reporting times and fewer reporting errors.
• SR has the potential to enhance referrer satisfaction and improve overall reporting quality in trauma imaging.