Audit of Radiology Request Form for Completion and Usefulness of Clinical History: Teaching Hospital Experience, Ghana

Background. The role of the “traditional” radiologist has shifted from imaging centered to patient focus, which underscores the utmost importance of the clinical radiologist in the multidisciplinary team in patient management. For the clinical radiologist to effectively play this key role, the refer...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bashiru Babatunde Jimah
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2021-01-01
Series:Radiology Research and Practice
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5583442
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832565992470872064
author Bashiru Babatunde Jimah
author_facet Bashiru Babatunde Jimah
author_sort Bashiru Babatunde Jimah
collection DOAJ
description Background. The role of the “traditional” radiologist has shifted from imaging centered to patient focus, which underscores the utmost importance of the clinical radiologist in the multidisciplinary team in patient management. For the clinical radiologist to effectively play this key role, the referring clinician must provide adequate and useful patient information to assist the radiologist in making a diagnosis or provide differential diagnosis. The objectives were to assess the level of completion of the radiology request form and to determine whether the clinical history provided aided in the final impression/diagnosis. Materials and Method. We conducted a prospective review of 500 radiology request forms at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH) between September and October 2018. The forms were consecutively sampled and reviewed for each field/area such as patient’s name, age, and clinical history. Data were analyzed descriptively for the level of completeness and usefulness of clinical history entered by the clinician. Results. No request form was completed in full. All the request forms did not have X-ray serial number and previous examination details documented. The proportions of forms with various fields completed were as follows: more than 90% of the forms had patient’s name, investigation required, date of the request, doctor’s name, and clinical history fields filled. The patient’s age, patient’s ward/address, and doctor’s address were filled in 88%, 75%, and 18.4%, respectively. Twenty percent of the request forms were not useful to the radiologist in the final diagnosis. Conclusion. A significant proportion of radiology request forms are incompletely filled and therefore denies the radiologist, the critical information needed to make a diagnosis, or narrow differential diagnosis.
format Article
id doaj-art-552aaf19da6141c7af70eddbff6a6d88
institution Kabale University
issn 2090-1941
2090-195X
language English
publishDate 2021-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Radiology Research and Practice
spelling doaj-art-552aaf19da6141c7af70eddbff6a6d882025-02-03T01:05:27ZengWileyRadiology Research and Practice2090-19412090-195X2021-01-01202110.1155/2021/55834425583442Audit of Radiology Request Form for Completion and Usefulness of Clinical History: Teaching Hospital Experience, GhanaBashiru Babatunde Jimah0Department of Medical Imaging, College of Health Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, GhanaBackground. The role of the “traditional” radiologist has shifted from imaging centered to patient focus, which underscores the utmost importance of the clinical radiologist in the multidisciplinary team in patient management. For the clinical radiologist to effectively play this key role, the referring clinician must provide adequate and useful patient information to assist the radiologist in making a diagnosis or provide differential diagnosis. The objectives were to assess the level of completion of the radiology request form and to determine whether the clinical history provided aided in the final impression/diagnosis. Materials and Method. We conducted a prospective review of 500 radiology request forms at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH) between September and October 2018. The forms were consecutively sampled and reviewed for each field/area such as patient’s name, age, and clinical history. Data were analyzed descriptively for the level of completeness and usefulness of clinical history entered by the clinician. Results. No request form was completed in full. All the request forms did not have X-ray serial number and previous examination details documented. The proportions of forms with various fields completed were as follows: more than 90% of the forms had patient’s name, investigation required, date of the request, doctor’s name, and clinical history fields filled. The patient’s age, patient’s ward/address, and doctor’s address were filled in 88%, 75%, and 18.4%, respectively. Twenty percent of the request forms were not useful to the radiologist in the final diagnosis. Conclusion. A significant proportion of radiology request forms are incompletely filled and therefore denies the radiologist, the critical information needed to make a diagnosis, or narrow differential diagnosis.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5583442
spellingShingle Bashiru Babatunde Jimah
Audit of Radiology Request Form for Completion and Usefulness of Clinical History: Teaching Hospital Experience, Ghana
Radiology Research and Practice
title Audit of Radiology Request Form for Completion and Usefulness of Clinical History: Teaching Hospital Experience, Ghana
title_full Audit of Radiology Request Form for Completion and Usefulness of Clinical History: Teaching Hospital Experience, Ghana
title_fullStr Audit of Radiology Request Form for Completion and Usefulness of Clinical History: Teaching Hospital Experience, Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Audit of Radiology Request Form for Completion and Usefulness of Clinical History: Teaching Hospital Experience, Ghana
title_short Audit of Radiology Request Form for Completion and Usefulness of Clinical History: Teaching Hospital Experience, Ghana
title_sort audit of radiology request form for completion and usefulness of clinical history teaching hospital experience ghana
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5583442
work_keys_str_mv AT bashirubabatundejimah auditofradiologyrequestformforcompletionandusefulnessofclinicalhistoryteachinghospitalexperienceghana