Ring Ring Ring! Characterising Telephone Interruptions During Radiology Reporting and How to Reduce These

Abstract

Telephone calls remain one of the most frequent interruptions in radiology reporting rooms, despite modern electronic order communication systems. A call received by a radiology trainee during the hour before completing a report may increase the chance of a discrepancy by 12%. To characterise telephone calls to radiology reporting rooms and identify ways to reduce these interruptions. An observational study over five working days (10 programmed activity reporting sessions equivalent) was conducted across 2 large teaching hospital reporting rooms. Radiologists were requested to record all calls between 9a.m and 5p.m on a preprepared Excel proforma and indicate their initial rating of call appropriateness. A total of 288 calls recorded, 92% (266/288) interrupted reporting. Reasons for calls were 48% (139/288) ask for a request to be vetted, 17% (50/288) ask for a study to be reported, 17% (45/288) "other," 7% (19/288) discuss choice of study, 6% (16/288) review a report, 3% (9/288) wrong number, 2% (7/288) returning a bleep, and 1% (3/288) provide further explanation in addition to the electronic request form. Radiologists and referrers remain over reliant on telephone interruptions for their workflow. Attempts to educate referrers previously reduced calls to a computed tomography reporting room by 28%. Our recommendations include (1) defining protected activities, (2) adhering to fully electronic requesting and vetting processes, other than in time critical or exceptional circumstances, (3) electronic critical report alerts and review of report priority triaging to reduce calls for reports, (4) revising duty radiologist timetables to tackle nonreporting responsibilities, and (5) improving new doctor induction in the organization to improve radiology request practice.