Reduction of need for repeat chest x-rays caused by insufficient inspiration through enhanced patient communication
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Abstract
This two-phased study first (phase 1) explored the effect of patient age and gender on the repeat rate of chest x-ray examinations due to inadequate inspiration. In phase 2, we sought to reduce this rate using an instructive video to improve patient understanding of the chest examination. In phase 1, the analysis included a total of 12,905 radiographic images from all types of examinations from a 3-month period collected retrospectively. These included 1,484 repeated images which gave a total repeat rate of 11.2%. The highest proportion of repeated images were chest examinations (29.7%). Of the chest examinations, with a repeat rate of 10.0%, inadequate inspiration was the major reason (76.3%) for repeating the exam. Our analysis of these repeated examinations showed that there was a positive association between increased repeat procedures caused by inadequate inspiration and patient age (more than 40 years). In phase 2, we designed and provided an instructive video about chest x-ray examinations. We found that its use was associated with a significant reduction in the repeat rate due to inadequate inspiration among patients aged 41-60 years. Effective communication is an important role of healthcare providers and can improve the quality of medical services.
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