Effectiveness of a Teaching Session on Interpreting Common Orthopaedic Radiographs at a Major Trauma Centre

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Radiology
• Orthopaedics

Background:

• Accurate interpretation of orthopaedic radiographs is crucial for junior clinicians in emergency and trauma settings.
• Diagnostic errors, such as missed fractures or malalignment, are common and impact patient safety.
• Structured, case-based teaching can enhance diagnostic accuracy and clinician confidence, but requires objective evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a single, senior-led, structured teaching session on orthopaedic radiograph interpretation for early-career clinicians.
• To assess immediate and short-term (six-week) improvements in diagnostic accuracy, confidence, and critical error reduction.

Main Methods:

• A prospective, single-centre quality improvement study involving 48 early-career clinicians at a UK major trauma centre.
• Participants attended a 45-minute teaching session on systematic radiograph interpretation.
• Assessments included image-based interpretation scores and confidence ratings pre-session, post-session, and at six-week follow-up.

Main Results:

• Mean interpretation scores improved significantly from 58.9% to 82.1% immediately post-teaching (p < 0.001).
• Self-rated confidence increased from 4.5 to 7.7 on a 0-10 scale.
• Critical errors decreased by 67.1%, with sustained accuracy at six weeks (76.8%).

Conclusions:

• A single, structured, interactive teaching session markedly improved orthopaedic radiograph interpretation accuracy and confidence in junior clinicians.
• The intervention demonstrated partial skill retention at six weeks and a significant reduction in critical diagnostic errors.
• Integrating brief, recurring radiograph teaching into clinical induction may enhance diagnostic safety in trauma settings.