Assessment of the Adequacy of Non-Emergency Computed Tomography Scan Request Forms in a Tertiary Hospital in South Africa

Abstract

Radiology request forms are vital information sharing platform between doctors and the radiology department (radiologists and radiographers). However, their significance has not been appropriately valued. The clinician is requested to provide the clinical reason for imaging as it assists the radiologist to understand the patient’s medical condition.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to assess the adequacy of filling of non-emergency CT request forms at our institution.

METHOD: There were 579 non-emergency CT request forms which were retrospectively reviewed. These CT request forms originated from four departments- neurosurgery, general surgery, internal medicine and paediatrics, as ward and outpatients, from January to June 2015.

RESULTS: Only 9.3% of the forms were fully completed. Seventy-two percent of the forms were deemed adequate as they met the criteria for the minimum information required for a radiological request form. The most frequently omitted fields (less than 60% completed) were mobility and previous X-rays with 57.5% and 17.3% respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Radiology request forms are commonly incomplete and inadequately filled. There is a need to educate referring doctors of the importance of providing adequate clinical history as this can improve the quality of the radiological report.