Francesc Novell Teixido MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Antoni Malet-Munte MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Carlos Serrano Burgos, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Jordi M. Puig-Domingo MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Xavier Gallardo MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Ernesto Belmonte Castan MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

To ascertain whether the number and type of discrepancies between residents' emergency reports and attending abdominal radiologists’ rectifications vary with the time on call.

Our center provides radiological services for a public hospital covering 421,000 people and reports emergency CT examinations for various hospitals covering another 800,000 people. On certain days, residents work independently on 24 hours call with only teleradiology support available. On the first working day after the call, attending abdominal radiologists review the residents' reports; if they disagree with the initial report, they elaborate an additional report. We did a cross-sectional observational study reviewing the urgent abdominal CT reports from the days when third- and fourth-year residents were on call for 24h between 1/1/2008 and12/31/2010. We analyzed the additional reports elaborated by attending abdominal radiologists, classifying the discrepancy with the resident’s report as “unimportant”, “important but not urgent”, or “important and urgent” (i.e., that could affect the emergency management). We also analyzed the relation between the discrepancies and the workload before each examination in relation to our national society’s recommended times for different examinations.  

Five hundred and fifty-seven urgent abdominal CT studies met the inclusion criteria. The 491 initial reports done in the first 17h of the call (before 2 AM) had a rate of “important” additional reports of 5.7% (3.5% “important and urgent”), whereas the 66 done after the 17th hour on call had a rate of “important” additional reports of 13.6% (9.1% “important and urgent”) (p=0.015)  

Errors are more common in abdominal CT reports done later in the night.

Our results show that reports late at night are more prone to errors, so examinations should not be done late at night unless they can not be delayed until the next morning.

Novell Teixido, F, Malet-Munte, A, Serrano Burgos, C, Puig-Domingo, J, Gallardo, X, Belmonte Castan, E, The Longer the Call, the Harder the Fall.  Radiological Society of North America 2011 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 26 - December 2, 2011 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2011/11009276.html