The development and evaluation of an audit tool for measuring reporting accuracy of radiographers compared with radiologists for intra-luminal pathology detected at computed tomography colonography (CTC)

Abstract

Objective: To design and test an audit tool to measure the reporting accuracy of radiographers using radiologist reports as the gold standard. Design: A database was designed to capture radiographer and radiologist report data. The radiographer preliminary evaluation of intraluminal pathology was given a score (PDS score) by the reporting radiologist based on the pathology present, the discrepancy between the preliminary evaluation and the final report and the significance of that discrepancy on the clinical management of the patient. To test the reliability of this scoring system, 30 randomly selected cases (n=1815) were retrospectively compared and assessed for accuracy using the PDS score by 3 independent practitioners. Inter rater reliability was assessed using percentage agreement and kappa scores. Results: There was 100% agreement between participants for all significant pathologies. Inter rater agreement was 80-93% for normal studies and insignificant pathologies. Conclusion: Results indicate that the tool provides a practical, easy to use and reliable method to record, monitor and evaluate a preliminary evaluation of the colon by radiographers.