Audit of requests for preoperative chest radiography

Abstract

Requests at our hospital for preoperative chest radiography were increasing but radiology staff did not know whether the increase was related to a change in workload or in clinical practice. We determined the rate of requests for preoperative radiography in patients undergoing elective surgery and the impact of such an investigation on subsequent clinical management. From 12 to 26 June 1992 we audited all admissions in all specialities of patients due to have elective surgery. We put preoperative chest radiographs in labelled envelopes, which were then sealed with staples; these envelopes were put in radiography packets, which the patients took back to the ward. The packets were returned to the radiology department after the patients had been discharged. If the staples on an envelope had been removed we concluded that the radiograph had been reviewed. We disseminated the results of this study at departmental audit meetings in surgery, anaesthetics, and radiology. After discussion among staff, revised guidelines, based on advice from the Royal College of Radiologists,1 were issued to doctors and …