The Viewpoint’s Assessment of Physicians About Radiology Reports of Medical Imaging Unit in Kermanshah

Abstract

Background: Radiology reports are the data obtained from radiography films which as the final and one of the main criteria of service in medical imaging centers, are the only linkage between the radiologist, physicians, and patients. This method is also a usual approach in the transfer of diagnostic data to the physicians. Methods: In this descriptive-cross sectional study, the research community included specialists working in public and private centers of Kermanshah province. A questionnaire including two sections of demographic data (age, sex, specialty, work experience, workplace and level of education) and the questions related to the role of the radiologist and necessary of report providing, quality of reports, radiographic film interpretation ability and attention to request content and in- time delivery of the reports, was investigated. The data were finally analyzed by STATA 11 software. Results: In this study, the opinions of 240 specialists from 14 specialties were examined. Among them, 64.2% were men, 92.2% of them were specialists, 45.5% were working in public centers and 42.5% of them had less than 10 years of work experience. The results showed that 63.3% of the physicians trusted radiologic reports for more than 50%. Among the scopes, the highest score was for the role of the radiologist in preparation of reports, and the lowest mean was obtained for the ability to interpret the radiological film. A comparison of the four scopes with assumed means showed no significant differences (P = 0.001). Conclusions: Regarding the percentage of total attitude score, the studied specialists had a relatively desirable attitude toward the radiological reports. The complexity of medical imaging techniques and their role in in-time disease diagnosis and treatment requires improvement of the relationship between the radiologists and non-radiologists physicians.