SP11.12 Improving Radiology Scan Requests in Acute General Surgery

Abstract

Abstract Background Junior doctors submit majority of requests for radiological scans in most surgical departments. We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of clinical information entered by referring doctors based on five define parameters recommended by a consultant radiologist in a tertiary hospital. Method All scans requested by clinicians within 48 hours of admission to the acute surgical receiving unit across two weeks were reviewed. Outpatient and ambulatory requests were excluded. The five required parameters were: clinical presentation, relevant past medical history, relevant blood results, clinical examination findings and clinical question. Education, in the form of posters and an online tutorial, were provided with the aim of improving scan requests. Data was collected on Excel and statistical analysis was performed using a paired t-test. Results Over two weeks, majority of 127 scan requests (21% USS, 64% CT scans, 15% MRCP) were made by doctors. Prior to our interventions, 60% of the defined parameters were included in scans request, with 83% of patients receiving their scans within 24 hours. This increased to 80% following delivery of medical education but this did not increase the number of scans performed within 24 hours. A paired t-test demonstrated a statistical significance between pre and post intervention scan requests (p=0.0471), however this did not correlate to shorter scan times. Conclusion Quality of scans improved following medical education in the form of posters and online tutorials. An induction tutorial on submitting quality scan requests would benefit referring clinical and radiologist on highlighting critical information required for timely scans.