Online Survey of Radiologic Ordering Practices by Pediatric Trainees

Knowledge of ACR Thoracic Imaging Appropriateness Criteria® among Trainees

“…The data demonstrated higher scores among radiology trainees and an overall improvement with increasing postgraduate years. This finding is consistent with previous studies (1,16). The lower scores among other clinical specialties may reflect a lack of uniform awareness of the criteria.…”

“…However, the results from this study are consistent with similar previous work on the ACR-AC (1,4,16). Nevertheless, it will be important for future studies to incorporate multiple institutions to obtain a widely representative sample.…”

“…Access to the ACR-AC in a manner that is easily retrievable and applicable is undoubtedly important in the context of busy clinical services. To improve access to the ACR-AC, previous studies have suggested wider dissemination through specialty journals, MD Consult, UpToDate, and popular search engines such as Google (1,4). Furthermore, the ACR-AC can be seamlessly included as a required element for discussion through existing resident trainee didactic forums such as morning reports, case conferences, and morbidity and mortality conferences, as well as incorporating them into computerized physician order entry systems.…”

“…Providing the appropriate evidencebased imaging studies increases diagnostic yield and prevents unnecessary imaging and the concomitant delays in diagnosis (1). The American College of Radiology's (ACR) evidence-based Appropriateness Criteria Ò (ACR-AC) were developed to provide imaging guidelines for specific clinical scenarios (2,3).…”

“…The American College of Radiology's (ACR) evidence-based Appropriateness Criteria Ò (ACR-AC) were developed to provide imaging guidelines for specific clinical scenarios (2,3). The ACR-AC have been available for more than a decade, but previous studies have suggested continued limited awareness among resident trainees and attending physicians (1,4,5). In academic institutions, resident trainees are responsible for most of the imaging ordering, and therefore the goal of this study was to evaluate the knowledge level of the appropriate imaging in the context of thoracic imaging.…”