About one in five patients and caregivers arrive for a radiology exam knowing nothing about the test ahead of them. That is the main finding of a study in the journal Radiology, released by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) on February 13, 2018. Many of those patients want the information, and about half end up searching for it on their own.
The study was led by Jay K. Pahade, M.D., an associate professor of radiology at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. His team surveyed patients and caregivers at six teaching hospitals across the U.S. Three of them were pediatric hospitals and three served adults. The questions covered what people wanted to know before an exam and which details they found most useful.
In total, 1,438 people answered. Of them, 78 percent said they had received some information before the exam, which left more than a fifth with none. Patients booked for MRI were the best informed, at 87 percent. Nuclear medicine came next at 82 percent. People who had already been through more than six imaging exams also got information more often, at 82 percent.
Preparation for the exam topped the list of what respondents valued, while the question of a radiation-free alternative came last. Parents, who answered most of the pediatric surveys, put an even higher value on every kind of pre-exam detail.
The ordering doctor was the main source of information for 64 percent of respondents. That was also the preferred source for 72 percent. By contrast, the radiology department or imaging center informed only 19 percent, and department staff 16 percent. As a result, 52 percent went looking on their own, for example by calling the doctor’s office or reading general health websites.
The researchers suggested wider promotion of the patient information website that RSNA runs jointly with the American College of Radiology.
Pahade said radiology has worked hard on sharing test results with patients, yet it has paid far less attention to engaging them before and during the exam. Patients without information tend to feel more anxious, he noted. In his view, radiology should take more ownership of the whole imaging process and build a more patient-centered model that closes the education gap.
