A survey of emergency radiology services in Canada should serve as a “wake-up call” for the country's radiologists, a new study concludes.
The study, published in the June issue of the Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal, involved a survey of emergency physicians and radiologists from 35 hospitals ranging in size from 120 to 1500 beds. Author William Torreggiani and colleagues said the goal was to make radiologists more aware “of the real needs and requirements of their emergency departments [EDs].”
The survey revealed distinctly different impressions about the current quality of radiology services available in EDs. Nine of the 21 emergency physicians surveyed rated the services as poor or average, compared with only 2 of 24 radiologists. “Our survey indicates that a significant number of emergency physicians are not satisfied with the services being offered. This is likely related to the combined lack of immediate availability of some radiologic services at different times of the day and the inefficiency of their provision.”
As well, even though emergency physicians almost always read films first, 21 of the 35 hospitals surveyed provide no formal training in this. The study also noted that only 3 of the responding hospitals employed a radiologist with a special interest in trauma.
“It is clear,” the study concluded, “that in certain areas that were previously the domain of the radiologist (such as emergency ultrasonography) other physicians are performing and interpreting images.
“If radiologists do not provide satisfactory service to the referring emergency physicians, it is likely that some functions previously under their domain will be lost to other specialties.” — Patrick Sullivan, CMAJ