Orthopaedic surgeons do not consult radiology reports. Fact or fiction?

Ricardo Donners; Andreas Gutzeit; Julian E Gehweiler; Sebastian Manneck; Balazs K Kovacs; Dorothee Harder

doi:10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109870

Orthopaedic surgeons do not consult radiology reports. Fact or fiction?

Eur J Radiol. 2021 Sep:142:109870. doi: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109870. Epub 2021 Jul 20.

Authors

Ricardo Donners¹, Andreas Gutzeit², Julian E Gehweiler³, Sebastian Manneck⁴, Balazs K Kovacs⁵, Dorothee Harder⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Petersgraben 4, CH-4031 Basel, Switzerland; Department of Radiology, Royal Marsden Hospital Downs Road, SM2 5PT Sutton, UK. Electronic address: ricardo.donners@usb.ch.
² Institute of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine and Breast Center St. Anna, Hirslanden Klinik St. Anna, St. Anna-Strasse 32, 6006 Lucerne, Switzerland; Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, ETH Zurich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 1-5 / 10, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Radiology, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria. Electronic address: andreas.gutzeit@hirslanden.ch.
³ Department of Radiology, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Petersgraben 4, CH-4031 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: julian.gehweiler@usb.ch.
⁴ Department of Radiology, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Petersgraben 4, CH-4031 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: sebastian.manneck@usb.ch.
⁵ Department of Radiology, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Petersgraben 4, CH-4031 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: balazskrisztian.kovacs@usb.ch.
⁶ Department of Radiology, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Petersgraben 4, CH-4031 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: dorothee.harder@usb.ch.

PMID: 34304032
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109870

Abstract

Purpose: To find out how orthopaedic surgeons handle radiological reports and to identify ways to improve musculoskeletal radiology service and interdisciplinary communication.

Method: An anonymised 14-question online survey was distributed among 27 orthopaedic departments in German-speaking parts of Europe. It was available to trainees and consultants between 22/10/2020 and 05/06/2021. The questionnaire collected information regarding the participants' habits of consulting radiology reports depending on the imaging modality, reasons for not reading reports and asked for improvement recommendations for the radiology service.

Results: 81 orthopaedists participated. 20% would never consult a plain radiograph report. In contrast, only 4% would never consult a CT report and no one claimed to never consult an MRI report. 43%, 67% and 86% would routinely consult radiology reports of radiographs, CT and MRI studies, respectively. Long time to report availability (24%), a general lack of time (19%) and too long texts (17%) were the most popular reasons for not consulting the reports. 62% of participants voted to sometimes disagree with the reports and in cases of opinion discrepancy 51% would always or often contact the radiologist. 64% preferred to be informed directly via phone about relevant unexpected findings. Most popular report improvement recommendations were more rapid report availability (24%), inclusion of significant images (19%) and inclusion of more angle and distance measurements (16%). In the free text column, a desire for direct interdisciplinary discussion of equivocal cases was often stated (30%).

Conclusions: Concluding, this survey showed that orthopaedic surgeons routinely consult radiology reports. The participants expressed a desire for increased, direct interdisciplinary communication to solve equivocal cases and improve patient care.

Keywords: Interdisciplinary communication; Orthopaedists; Radiology reporting; Survey.

MeSH terms

Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Orthopedic Surgeons*
Radiography
Radiology*
Referral and Consultation