RSSA Conference: What Do Radiology Residents Think of CT Abdomen and Pelvis Structured Reporting System?

Background:  Radiology reports play a critical role in communicating information to clinicians in a timely and accurate manner. In recent years, there has been a growing shift towards the use of structured reporting systems (SRS) as an alternative to traditional free-text reports. Objective: The objective of our study is to assess the knowledge, and attitude of radiology residents towards structured reporting and whether they practice report writing with SRS. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 168 residents from radiology residency programs in the Western region of Saudi Arabia. Participants were surveyed using an English questionnaire. The questionnaire included demographic data, and questions concerning residents’ knowledge of SRS, attitude towards SRS and utilization of SRS in abdominopelvic computed tomography (CT) reports. Ethics approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the Faculty of Medicine.  Results: 78 residents participated in the survey. 10% of the residents were not familiar with SRS. 71% of the residents who did hear about it, did from a radiology consultant. 30% of the residents denied receiving training in reporting skills. 63.5% of residents preferred using SRS in the abdomen and pelvis CT studies. Compared to conventional reporting, residents agreed that SRS helped them spot findings, took less time and decreased errors. On the other hand, residents thought that SRS limits their freedom of speech, and is harder to use in complex cases. Conclusion: Most radiology residents have a positive attitude towards SRS and believe that they increase the efficiency and accuracy of their reports. The overall level of knowledge and positive attitude of residents will, hopefully, help institutions implement structured reporting systems in the future.