A SURVEY OF RADIOLOGY REPORTING PRACTICES IN VETERINARY TEACHING HOSPITALS

Radiologists from 28 veterinary schools and one private teaching hospi tal responded to a survey questionnaire focused on diagnostic image re porting. Radiologists at 26 hospitals generated a hard copy report on essentially all imaging studies performed. At 25 hospitals, radiologis ts dictated and transcriptionists typed all or most reports; radiologi sts at two institutions typed all or some of their reports. At five ho spitals, preliminary and/or final handwritten reports were generated. The range of reports generated per day was <10 to 40 per radiologist o n duty. Seven respondents generated reports as films came from the pro cessor and another 12 routinely generated reports the day the studies were completed, Clinician access to a processed report averaged 2 to 4 days after study was completed (reported range: several hours to 7 or more days). Fifteen responding radiologists personally mounted films from storage jackets for a majority of their reporting. Fourteen respo ndents generated reports from films mounted on motorized or stationary viewers. Nineteen respondents generated reports in a busy viewing are a where they were frequently interrupted. Radiologists' impression of clinician and resident satisfaction regarding availability of radiolog y reports was that they were satisfied or very satisfied at 15 of the 29 hospitals. Five respondents reported that clinicians and residents were not concerned about availability of processed radiology reports. Thirteen radiologists were planning to change their reporting method w ithin the next 2 years. The change most frequently sought (12 responde nts) was to decrease turn-around time of reports, Ten radiologists ind icated an interest in trying a voice recognition dictation system, The most common reasons given for not planning any changes in radiology r eporting in the next 2 years were: limited number of radiologists (8) and ''satisfied as is'' (7). Turn-around of radiology reports at these veterinary institutions averaged 2 to 3 times longer than for radiolo gy departments in human health-care facilities.