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Medical impact of unedited preliminary radiology reports
B L Holman1, P Aliabadi, S G Silverman
1Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.
Purpose:
To determine the potential frequency of adverse patient outcomes resulting from erroneous preliminary radiology reports.
Materials And Methods:
The authors determined the number of preliminary radiology reports that changed substantively between the preliminary and final version during a 10-day collection period. They analyzed 200 of 1,648 reports to determine the potential for adverse outcome.
Results:
Only 5.6% of the preliminary radiology reports were changed substantively. Two percent of all reports contained changes that would have led to additional testing or treatment and, possibly, increased morbidity.
Conclusion:
Immediate electronic transfer of a preliminary radiology report results in a small but important number of adverse outcomes; however, if a final edited report follows within 24 hours and referring physicians are called whenever the preliminary report contains erroneous information, the benefits of rapid information transmission may outweigh the additional risks.