Electronic data gathering surveys and enterprise-wide e-mail service makes it possible to efficiently poll physicians, with the hope that the convenience of well-designed electronic survey forms will convince them to respond, the authors said.
The 16-question survey was designed to learn referring physicians' preferences of radiology report format, to determine how physicians read and extracted information contained in the report, and to find out how unexpected findings were dealt with. The radiologists received a 20% response, with the majority of physician respondents being internists, general family practitioners, pediatricians, and surgeons, as well as physicians representing 10 other specialties.
"The majority of respondents read the entire radiology report. We learned that they preferred the impression section to be presented in a structured format, with numbers or bullets," said Dr. Rafel Tappouni, assistant professor of radiology in the abdominal imaging division.
Referring physicians also requested that incidental findings be included in the impressions section of the report, and the majority of respondents preferred radiologists to communicate exam findings to patients, especially when the patients asked the radiology department for the results.
As a result of the survey, Hershey Medical Center implemented initiatives to standardize the basic format and style of reports throughout the radiology department, and workshops were held to convey this. Tappouni will discuss this initiative and other responses by the radiologists as a result of the survey.
