Radiologic performance in night and emergency care

Abstract

This report deals with radiologic examinations outside official working hours in a German university hospital and the influence of new government regulations. A total of 65,113 radiologic examinations were requested and performed outside official working hours between 1 July 1990 and 30 Juni 1994. The data were analyzed according to the age and sex of this patient population compared with the entire population studied within this 4-year period. Further analysis included the time of the study, the organ systems investigated, and the radiologic technique. About one-third of requests occurred between 16.00 and 20.00 hours on normal working days and, thus, could be taken care of by late shifts. Another third covers the time between 20.00 and 08.00 hours in the morning, which requires inhouse staff (medical and technical). The remainder of the requests occurred during holidays and weekends in the daytime. The most common request in this analysis was for portable chest examination. About 50% of all portable chest examinations were performed outside regular working hours. In all, 17.2% of all requests involved CT and MRT studies. Government regulation did not change the number, technique, and frequency of radiologic examinations outside official working hours.