Comparing Perceived Radiograph Quality Between Radiologic Technologists and Orthopedic Surgeons

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Orthopedic Surgery
• Medical Imaging Quality Assessment

Background:

• Assessing the quality of plain radiographs is crucial for accurate orthopedic diagnosis.
• Perceptions of radiographic quality can vary among healthcare professionals.
• Previous studies compared radiologic technologists and radiologists, but not orthopedic surgeons.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate discrepancies in perceived plain radiograph quality between orthopedic surgeons and radiologic technologists.
• To compare the subjective assessment of radiographic quality among attending orthopedic surgeons, orthopedic surgery residents, and radiologic technologists.

Main Methods:

• A prospective survey was conducted using 42 deidentified plain radiographs of varying quality.
• Participants (orthopedic surgeons and radiologic technologists) rated each radiograph on a scale of 1 to 100 for overall quality.
• Statistical analyses, including analyses of variance, were used to compare scoring between groups.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in scoring were observed for 13 out of 42 radiographs.
• Radiologic technologists assigned lower quality scores to 11 images compared to orthopedic surgeons (residents and attendings).
• Two images received significantly higher scores from attending surgeons than from technologists or residents.

Conclusions:

• Orthopedic surgeons and radiologic technologists demonstrate subjective agreement on a quantitative scale for radiograph quality.
• Radiologic technologists were more critical in their assessment of radiograph quality than orthopedic surgeons, challenging the initial hypothesis.
• Findings suggest that orthopedic surgeons may not order repeat imaging primarily due to image quality concerns.