Evaluation of chest X-ray readings by emergency room physicians of a universitary hospital

Background: We aimed to find out whether systematic reading of chest radiography (CRx) by radiologists in the emergency unit might lead to a higher diagnostic efficiency and improve health care. Material and method: Descriptive study of consecutive admissions during 3 months in an internal medicine department. We registered the ĆRx interpretation by the emergency unit physician first, and a radiologist the next day. In cases with different interpretations, we assessed whether these differences would have modified the treatment. Results: The overall disagreement between the emergency room physician and the radiologist was 13.7%. In 19 of 29 cases with different readings, the radiologist interpretation was in agreement with the final diagnosis. In 7 of these 19 cases, the radiologist reading of CRx would have led to a positive change of treatment. However, differences between both physicians were not statistically significant. Conclusions: There seems to be a higher diagnostic efficiency when the emergency room physician interpretation of CRx is complemented by a radiologist.