1. Guideline
• The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) guidelines, in the standard practice
and guidance for trauma radiology in seriously injured patients (SIP), state that
an on call radiologist should provide the final report on the SIP within one
hour of multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) image acquisition.
Time taken to verify reports in trauma patients.
Does this department meet RCR guidelines?
Aims
• Assess whether this DGH was meeting these guidelines
• To compare services during working hours and out of hours
Methodology
• Retrospective audit
• Three month data pool of trauma images collected
• CT head scans were used as a marker for trauma patients
• The time taken from the first slice acquired to the verification of the report
was recorded for each trauma patient
• The data was also split to compare the service provided in and out of hours. In
hours was between 08:01-19:30 and out of hours was between 19:31-08:00.
Audit standard
• No established standard set by the RCR
• We used a standard of 100% of scans should be reported within one hour of
image acquisition in SIP
Results
• 98 patients were used over
three months, 62 during
working hours and 39 out
of hours
• In total 37% of reports
were verified in one hour
• 37% verified during
working hours
• 33% verified out of hours
Recommendation for change
• Improvements in communication were implemented via a tick box note
• Out of hours; trauma images were outsourced via a high speed transfer
system and highlighted as urgent
Re-audit results
• Data was collected via
the same methodology
• 33 patients were used
over one month
• 75% of scans were
verified within one hour
• 65% during working hours
• 100% out of hours
Conclusion
• Initially, guidelines were not being met
• Improvements in communication within the department led to immediate
results and the time taken to verify reports was reduced.
• Utilising updated current technology is very beneficial and necessary
37%
64%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Pre audit Post audit
% of scans verified within an hour
during work hours
33%
100%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Pre Audit Post Audit
% of scans verified within an
hour out of hours
Dr Richard Sennett; BSc, MSc, MBBS. Dr Andrew Ceccehrini; BA, MB, Bchir (Cantab), MRCP, FRCR.
24%
52%
15%
6%
0% 3%
Overall hours
Time (minutes) Verified reports
0-30 8
31-60 17
61-90 5
91-120 2
121-150 0
151+ 1
Total 33
5%
32%
32%
18%
7%
6%Overall hours
Time (minutes) Verified reports
0-30 5
31-60 31
61-90 31
91-120 18
121-150 7
151+ 6
Total 98