Radiology Reporting Preferences: What Do Referring Clinicians Want?

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Reporting
• Clinical Communication

Background:

• Referring providers' preferences for radiology report stylistics can impact clinical workflow and communication.
• Understanding these preferences is crucial for optimizing report content and format.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if referring providers' preferences for radiology report stylistics differ based on their roles, specialties, and practice locations.
• To identify the most preferred radiology report format among referring clinicians.

Main Methods:

• A survey was electronically distributed to 579 referring clinicians (physicians and advanced practice providers).
• Participants ranked three report styles (blended, narrative, highly templated) on appearance, formatting, detail, and overall preference.
• Additional queries addressed preferences for literature citations and dose reduction statement placement.

Main Results:

• A response rate of 82.2% (477 surveys) was achieved.
• The blended report style was most preferred (62.5%), followed by narrative (18.9%) and highly templated (18.7%).
• No statistically significant differences in preference were found across provider types, practice settings, or medical specialties. Majority favored literature citations and end-of-report dose statements.

Conclusions:

• A majority of clinicians prefer a blended radiology report style, integrating structured elements with narrative descriptions.
• Report standardization, incorporating preferred elements, may influence future reimbursement policies.