Are We Following iRefer Guidelines From the Royal College of Radiology When Requesting Abdominal X-rays?

Abstract

Background Abdominal radiography is one of the most routinely performed radiological investigations in hospitals. It is one of the initial investigations done in hospitals. Numerous studies have shown that abdominal X-rays have low sensitivity in several conditions such as acute abdominal pain. Methodology This study aims to first identify whether the Royal College of Radiology guidelines are being adhered to while requesting abdominal X-rays and, second, to identify the number of unnecessary requests made in the Betsi Cadwaladr health board. This is a retrospective audit of abdominal X-ray request data collected between the 1st and 23rd of August 2022. Data were collected from the electronic radiology record system. iRefer guidelines by the Royal College of Radiology were used as a reference to compare the requests made, and data were then analysed accordingly. Data are reported descriptively using percentages. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 20 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results Of the total 242 abdominal X-rays noted, 89.67% of requests were according to the iRefer guidelines while 10.33% of requests were not. A total of 73.14% of cases were suspected to have an intestinal obstruction, and the positivity rate for the same was only 12.39%. Conclusions The majority of the requests followed the guidelines. However, there is an urgent need to develop local guidelines to reduce needless abdominal X-rays.