##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##

Abdullah A Alburah Renad S. AlSubaie https://orcid.org/0009-0005-5528-704X Mohammed A. Almuhanna Mohammed Hazem

Abstract

Objectives: The research aims to evaluate the proficiency of medical interns in identifying critical findings on chest X-rays, such as pneumothorax, pleural effusion, pulmonary edema, pneumonia, and other urgent conditions. It also seeks to determine the interns' capability to differentiate between normal and abnormal findings, as well as their ability to prioritize and communicate these findings to senior medical staff promptly.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional online questionnaire-based form was used to collect data from medical interns across different medical schools around Saudi Arabia. Pearson correlation was carried out to see the relationship between x-ray interpretation scores and degree of confidence. A Fischer exact test was conducted to find an association between the demographic characteristics and diagnostic accuracy of X-rays.

Results: A total of 545 medical interns from different universities participated in this study.  The lowest diagnosis accuracy (27%) was when identifying a case of left lower lobe pneumonia. On the other hand, the most identified case (60.9%) was COVID-19 pneumonia. In cases of life-threatening conditions, only 13.1% of them have high confidence in their diagnosis of pneumoperitoneum, and 23.8% have high confidence in their diagnosis of pneumothorax. Normal CXR was answered incorrectly by 47.7% of the participants. The performance among recently started interns for some conditions is better than that of recently finished interns. Moreover, there are no significant differences in performance between those who are interested in radiology and those who are not. More than half of the participants advise doing extracurricular courses, practical case-based training in college, and volunteer work in radiology to improve their CXR interpretation skills.

Conclusion: The competence of medical interns in interpreting chest X-rays varied across different medical conditions. Only 27.0% of interns correctly identified left lower lobe pneumonia, while 60.9% of them were able to identify COVID-19 pneumonia. Medical interns' competencies have limitations across different medical conditions; therefore, increasing exposure to radiological cases during internships and adequate training in college are recommended.

How to Cite

1.
Medical Interns’ Skill Levels in Emergency Chest X-ray Interpretation. SaudiRad [Internet]. 2023 Dec. 22 [cited 2024 Dec. 12];2(2):1-15. Available from: https://saudiradiology.com/index.php/home/article/view/163

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##

Keywords

Chest X-ray, Medical Education, Radiology

References
[1] Moss F. The pre-registration year. Medical Education. 1997;31:10–1.
[2] Al-Moamary MS, Mamede S, Schmidt HG. Innovations in Medical Internship: Benchmarking and Application within the King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. Education for Health. 2010;23(1):367.
[3] Almahfouz NF, Aldaher AS, Algha OI. Medical specialty selection Guide for med- ical graduates, Saudi commission for health specialties 2015; 2016. [Accessed August 30, 2016]. Available from: http://www.scfhs.org.sa/Media/OtherPublications/ Documents/Medical%20Guide%20Complete%2031.3.15.pdf.
[4] IAEA/WHOExpertCommittee.Themedicalusesofionizingradiationandradioiso- topes. WHO Technical Report Series. 1972;492. WHO, Geneva.
[5] Speets AM, Van Der Graaf Y, Hoes AW, Kalmijn S, Sachs AP, Rutten MJ et al. Chest radiography in general practice: indications, diagnostic yield and consequences for patient management. British Journal of General Practice. 2006;56(529):574–8.
[6] Hill DL. AI in imaging: the regulatory landscape. British Journal of Radiology. 2024;97(1155):483–491.
[7] Brunswick JE, Ilkhanipour K, Seaberg DC, McGill L. Radiographic interpretation in the emergency department. Radiographic interpretation in the emergency depart- ment The American journal of emergency medicine. 1996;14(4):346–8.
[8] ShammariMA,HassanA,AlshamlanN,AlotaibiS,BamashmoosM,HakamiAetal. Family medicine residents’ skill levels in emergency chest X-ray interpretation. BMC Family Practice. 2021;22(1):1–1.
[9] Speets AM, van der Graaf Y, Hoes AW, Kalmijn S, Sachs AP, Rutten MJ et al. Chest radiography and pneumonia in primary care: diagnostic yield and consequences for patient management. European Respiratory Journal. 2006;28(5):933–8.
[10] Satia I, Bashagha S, Bibi A, Ahmed R, Mellor S, Zaman F. Assessing the accuracy and certainty in interpreting chest X-rays in the medical division. Clinical Medicine. 2013;13(4):349.
[11] Feigin DS. Lateral chest radiograph: a systematic approach. Academic radiology. 2010;17(12):1560–6.
[12] RaoofS,FeiginD,SungA,RaoofS,IrugulpatiL,RosenowEC.InterpretationofPlain Chest Roentgenogram. Chest. 2012;141(2):545–558.
[13] MehdipoorG,SalmaniF,ShabestariAA.Surveyofpractitioners’competencyfordiag- nosis of acute diseases manifest on chest X-ray. BMC Medical Imaging. 2017;17(1):1– 6.
[14] Samara O, Alryalat SA, Malkawi L, Ali MB, Kilani A, Alkhalaileh Z et al. Assessment of final-year medical students’ performance in diagnosing critical findings on chest X-ray. Emergency Radiology. 2021;28(2):333–8.
[15] Leigh-Smith S, Harris T. Tension pneumothorax–time for a re-think? Emergency Medicine Journal. 2005;22(1):8–16.
[16] Fabre C, Proisy M, Chapuis C, Jouneau S, Lentz PA, Meunier C et al. Radiology residents’ skill level in chest x-ray reading. Diagnostic and interventional imaging. 2018;99(6):361–70.
[17] Hotel OPH. Medical Errors and Patient Safety in Massachusetts: What is the Role of the Commonwealth?; 2000.
[18] O’Brien KE, Cannarozzi ML, Torre DM, Mechaber AJ, Durning SJ. Training and assessment of CXR/basic radiology interpretation skills: results from the 2005 CDIM Survey. Teaching and learning in medicine. 2008;20(2):157–162.
[19] Wentzell S, Moran L, Dobranowski J, Levinson A, Hannigan A, Dunne CP et al. E- learning for chest x-ray interpretation improves medical student skills and confidence levels. BMC Medical Education. 2018;18(1):1–8.
Saudi Journal of Radiology
Section
Articles
Copyright