Nathaniel E. Margolis MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Mark Philip Bernstein MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

There has been increasing emphasis on patient safety in radiology. Many times the audience for patient safety education is comprised of radiologists – not the clinicians who order the exams. We attempted to determine the effect of giving a seminar to emergency medicine (EM) physicians regarding radiology patient safety knowledge.

A patient safety seminar was developed with sections on appropriate imaging protocols, IV contrast safety, IV access required for contrast administration, and radiation dose. Radiologists gave the seminars to EM physicians of all levels of training and faculty (n=28), medical students (n=19), and first year radiology residents (n=9). Pre- and post-tests were distributed before and after the seminars. Differences in pre- and post-test scores were analyzed using two-tailed equal variance T-tests.

There was marked improvement in overall scores for all three groups: EM physicians (+18.7%, p<0.0001), medical students (+34.2%, p<0.0001), and first year radiology residents (+21.7%, p<0.0001). The greatest net improvement was seen in questions pertaining to radiation dose among first year radiology residents (pre-test 29.6%, post-test 100%). Statistically significant improvement in pre- and post-test scores were seen for all sections except for the IV access section, among both EM physicians (pre-test 80.7%, post-test 79.3%, p=0.54) and first year radiology residents (pre-test 84.4%, post-test 88.9%, p=0.44), given that their pretest scores were already high. Improvement in the IV contrast section by first year radiology residents showed a trend towards significance (pre-test 81.9%, post-test 94.4%, p=0.11). When EM physicians were broken down by residency program year, higher scores were seen with increasing experience, with all years showing improvement.

Interdisciplinary seminars are an effective way to educate those who are unfamiliar with radiology patient safety, especially clinicians. Radiology patient safety knowledge can be assessed with pre- and post tests, which can also serve as a continuous quality improvement metrics.

Seminars given by radiologists to referring clinicians were an effective way to increase radiology patient safety knowledge.

Margolis, N, Bernstein, M, Radiology Patient Safety Knowledge: Effect of Interdisciplinary Seminars.  Radiological Society of North America 2012 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 25 - November 30, 2012 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2012/12043516.html