A survey of radiology reporting practices in veterinary teaching hospitals

Radiologists from 28 veterinary schools and one private teaching hospital responded to a survey questionnaire focused on diagnostic image reporting. Radiologists at 26 hospitals generated a hard copy report on essentially all imaging studies performed. At 25 hospitals, radiologists dictated and transcriptionists typed all or most reports; radiologists at two institutions typed all or some of their reports. At five hospitals, preliminary and/or final handwritten reports were generated. The range of reports generated per day was <10 to 40 per radiologist on duty. Seven respondents generated reports as films came from the processor and another 12 routinely generated reports the day the studies were completed. Clinician access to a processed report averaged 2 to 4 days after study was completed (reported range: several hours to 7 or more days). Fifteen responding radiologists personally mounted films from storage jackets for a majority of their reporting. Fourteen respondents generated reports from films mounted on motorized or stationary viewers. Nineteen respondents generated reports in a busy viewing area where they were frequently interrupted. Radiologists' impression of clinician and resident satisfaction regarding availability of radiology reports was that they were satisfied or very satisfied at 15 of the 29 hospitals. Five respondents reported that clinicians and residents were not concerned about availability of processed radiology reports. Thirteen radiologists were planning to change their reporting method within the next 2 years. The change most frequently sought (12 respondents) was to decrease turn-around time of reports. Ten radiologists indicated an interest in trying a voice recognition dictation system. The most common reasons given for not planning any changes in radiology reporting in the next 2 years were: limited number of radiologists (8) and "satisfied as is" (7). Turn-around of radiology reports at these veterinary institutions averaged 2 to 3 times longer than for radiology departments in human health-care facilities.