Patients' photographs improve radiologists' performance

Jerusalem, Israel, December 2: A new study conducted by researchers from Israeli and presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago today suggests that the picture of a patient with imaging exam results may enable a more meticulous reading from the doctors looking at the X-rays.

Generally, radiologists do not have much interaction with the patients but showing them a picture of a test participant can help improve their performance, researchers said.

Lead author of the study, Dr. Yehonatan N. Turner, radiology resident at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel, said, "Our study emphasizes approaching the patient as a human being and not as an anonymous case study."

For study, Dr. Turner and team involved fifteen radiologists at the Medical Center, Israel, and 318 patients who agreed to get their pictures clicked before undergoing computed tomographydefine, or CTdefine scans, an advanced type of X-ray.

The colored pictures appeared automatically when the doctors opened the patients' computer files. The exams were reviewed by 15 radiologists and later they were given questionnaires to gather data about their experience.

The researchers said that after looking at the pictures of the patients, all 15 radiologists admitted feeling more empathy towards them. Also, the pictures showed how illness was taking a physical toll on the patient.

“Once you see that this is a human being ... the attitude changes," Co-author of the study, Dr. Irith Hadas-Halpern, a radiologist at the Jerusalem hospital, Israel, said. "You see this is a young woman, an old suffering man. It adds something."

After twelve weeks, 81 of these exams with unexpected abnormalities that were found by the radiologists when a picture was included in the file were again shown to the doctors without the picture. Nearly 80 percent of the radiologic incidental findings which were reported previously were not reported when the pictures were deleted from the computer file.

The radiologists who were part of the study said that though the addition of the photo did not lengthen the time spent reading, it was a factor in how meticulously they interpreted the images and agreed that the addition of a picture in a patient's file should be adopted into routine practice. The photographs can also be included in long distance teleradiology practices.

Dr. Turner said, "The photos were very helpful both in terms of improving diagnosis and the physicians' own feelings as caregivers."

"Down the road, we would like to see photos added to all radiology case files," he added.