Preliminary Considerations
Key Findings
OBJECTIVES:
- To understand what is meant by the KEY FINDINGS in an examination
- To know that KEY FINDINGS may be a single positive finding, a constellation of findings, or the absence of positive findings
- To understand how KEY FINDINGS differ from other (incidental or ancillary) findings in a set of images (examination)
- To appreciate the need for organizing all findings in an examination in order of importance relevant to the clinical question or diagnosis AND with respect to relative acuty and severity for the patient
NOTES:
AUTHOR: Linda Lanier MD, Chris Sistrom MD MPH
ACKNOWLDEGEMENTS: Patricia Abbitt MD
COMMENTS:
REFERENCES:
Clinical Urgency (triage)
OBJECTIVES:
- To use clinical acumen to judge a finding in terms of its clinical URGENCY
- To recognize that some findings require immediate attention to the patient
- To be able to determine which findings require communication in a non-routine manner
- To begin to organize multiple findings in relation to the degree of clinical URGENCY
NOTES:
AUTHOR: Linda Lanier MD
ACKNOWLEGMENTS:
COMMENTS: The authors recognize that assignment of urgency to an imaging finding is situation specific and a subjective judgment. The intent is to reinforce the concept that radiologists are clinical physicians with expertise in imaging.
REFERENCES:
General Concepts
OBJECTIVES:
- To recognize that the report is the official, legal record and that care must be taken in the creation of the report
- To understand the need to issue a professional report that reflects competence, skill, knowledge, experience and professionalism
- To recognize the need to proofread and correct errors in spelling, measurements, and L/R reference
- To issue reports that are grammatically correct
- To recognize that the report not only communicates findings about the patient but reveals information about the competency of the radiologist
NOTES:
AUTHOR: Linda Lanier MD
ACKNOWLEGMENTS:
COMMENTS:
REFERENCES:
