A Retrospective Analysis of Patients Receiving Teleradiology Consultations for Computed Tomography in the Emergency Department

Abstract

Introduction:Teleradiology plays an essential role in the accurate and prompt diagnosis of patients in the emergency department (ED). This study aimed to analyze some factors affecting the use of teleradiology in EDs.Methods:We retrospectively examined computerized tomography (CT) images taken in our ED over one month. We compared patients for whom emergency physicians (EP) requested an immediate report via teleradiology (group 1), and patients for whom they requested no report and assessed themselves (group 2), in terms of demographic characteristics, complaints, outcomes, and re-admission.Results:The study population consisted of 1999 patients, 831 in group 1, and 1168 in group 2. The patients in group 2 were older (42.87±25.12 years) than those in group 1 (38.78±25.03 years) (p<0.01). The proportion of reports issued in forensic cases (85.8%) was significantly higher than that in non-forensic cases (p<0.05). EPs most commonly requested reports for patients presenting to the hospital due to abdominal pain (p<0.05). EP requested significantly more reports for patients admitted to the hospital and for subjects who died (p<0.05). The re-admission rate among patients who were discharged without teleradiology consultation was higher than the re-admission rate of those who were discharged after the teleradiology consultation (p=0.01).Conclusion:Our findings show that teleradiology is most used in forensic cases, for patients with abdominal pain, who are admitted to clinics, and at after-hours.

Keywords

• emergency
• teleradiology
• computed tomography
• abdominal pain