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)

• Radiographers issue a preliminary clinical evaluation of computed tomography colonography.
• A database was set up to collate and audit radiographer preliminary clinical evaluation.
• Radiographer primary clinical evaluations were scored for accuracy against the radiology report.
• Radiographer accuracy was high when compared with the radiology report.
• Radiographers can support radiologists through double reporting of intraluminal pathology.

ObjectiveTo design and test an audit tool to measure the reporting accuracy of radiographers using radiologist reports as the gold standard.DesignA 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.ResultsThere was 100% agreement between participants for all significant pathologies. Inter rater agreement was 80–93% for normal studies and insignificant pathologies.ConclusionResults 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.