| Summary: | Purpose In the adult emergency department of a university hospital, we investigated the frequency
of major discrepancies between the preliminary reports by radiology residents and the
final reports by certified radiologists.
Materials and Methods Based on CT and MRI scans obtained between December 2016 and
November 2019, we selected cases with diagnoses or treatment plans that could be changed
due to discrepancies between preliminary and final reports and classified them by the type of
discrepancy. We also examined the distributions of the major discrepancies and stratified them
by residents’ working time zone, experience, and subspecialty.
Results Based on the 72137 preliminary reports evaluated, 1348 tests (1.9%) showed major
discrepancies. Most of the major discrepancies were false negatives (72.0%), followed by misdiagnosis
(26.3%) and false positives (1.7%). Acute findings (87.2%) were more common than nonacute
findings (12.8%). The major discrepancy rate increased toward the second half of the 24-
hour shift, with the highest rate of 2.9% occurring between 2 am and 4 am. The major discrepancy
rate did not vary with experience, and it varied from 0.6% to 4.5% for each subspecialty.
Conclusion The major discrepancy rate was less than 2%, and it increased with longer working hours
during a 24-hour shift.
|
|---|