49 16.6. Survey of plain film image interpretation provision in curricula offered by accredited Australian Medical Radiation programs of study Presenter: Imelda Williams, Monash University, Australia Authors: Imelda Williams; Cynthia Cowling Introduction: It is expected that the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia (MRPBA) and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) will include specific requirements related to image interpretation as a core skill for radiographers. Courses offering Medical Radiations programs of study need to demonstrate that their graduates meet these core skills on completion of their study. In addition, postgraduate education and training undertaken need to ensure that practitioners can demonstrate advanced plain film image interpretation competencies of the musculoskeletal system, the chest and abdomen within the trauma and outpatient setting. This research was undertaken by Monash University contracted by the Department of Health (DoH) Queensland to define core plain film image interpretation competencies for both entry level and advanced level diagnostic radiography. Methods: Two surveys were distributed to universities offering accredited Australian radiography programs of study to review current training standards relating to plain film image interpretation for both entry level and advanced level diagnostic radiography. Conclusions / Results: 77.8% Response rate revealed 5 themes; clinical history, image quality, human and radiographic anatomy, radiographic pathology and communication. Delivery of themes varied across radiography programs. 2 Definitions of image interpretation competencies were proposed for both entry and advanced levels. Image interpretation content and assessment were mapped. Recommendations should serve as guidance for assessing accredited Australian Medical Radiation programs of study to meet proposed definitions 16.7. The influence of an undergraduate image interpretation course on the accuracy of radiographers’ interpreting trauma images of the appendicular skeleton: A pilot study Presenter: Kriteshni Kaushal, Fiji National University Authors: Kriteshni Kaushal Introduction: Radiographers are able to interpret trauma images of the appendicular skeleton comparable to radiologists. This study assessed the accuracy of radiographers’ interpretation of trauma images of the appendicular skeleton, relative to an image interpretation course, at a teaching hospital in Fiji. Upon relevant Ethical Approval, 2 groups of 5 radiographers each and 1 Consultant Radiologist, whose reports were used as the Gold Standard, participated in this study participated in this study. Group A had access to the course while Group B did not. A test-bank of 20 trauma radiographs of the appendicular skeleton was used, pooling a total of 200 cases. Methods: Group A had an accuracy estimate of 90% compared to 81% of Group B. Sensitivity for both groups was 97% . Specificity for Group A and Group B was 84% and 67%, respectively. The NPV for both groups was 97%. The PPV for Group A and B was 83% and 71%. Results: Group A had an higher accuracy rate, indicating that the image interpretation course had a positive effect on the ability of radiographers to interpret radiographs of the appendicular skeleton. Radiographers' demonstrated higher level of accuracy interpreting lower limb trauma images. The vocabulary used by radiographers to describe their findings needs improvement. A larger scale study could be done to further validate the findings of this pilot study. 16.8. Comparison of dual energy subtraction radiography and tomosynthesis in the evaluation of pulmonary nodules - a preliminary study Presenter: Subhash Chand Bansal, PostGraduate Institute of Medical education & reasearch Chandigarh, India Authors: Bali Ritu, Bansal S C, Garg Mandeep, Khandelwal N Introduction: A pulmonary nodule is defined as an oval to round opacity, 2-30 mm in diameter seen on a chest radiograph or Computed Tomography. The current standard for detection and characterization of most pulmonary lesions is volumetric Multi-Detector Computed Tomography (MDCT). The diagnostic performance of Dual-Energy Subtraction Digital Radiography (DES-DR) and Digital Tomosynthesis (DT), which are advancements of Digital Radiography (DR) technique, in detecting pulmonary nodules was assessed. DUAL SHOT ENERGY SUBTRACTION RADIOGRAPHY In the dual shot technique, the high and low energy radiographs are generated by two exposures. The system uses a flat panel detector with superior detective quantum efficiency (DQE), as compared to the phosphor plates. TOMOSYNTHESIS Digital tomosynthesis is a radiographic technique that produces a number of low-dose projection images of a patient over a limited angular range from a single pass of X- rays. These projection images are then used to create section images of the examined object, using modern reconstruction algorithms. Methods: Twenty five patients (15 males, 10 females) which included 17 patients from Radiotherapy department and eight patients from other OPDs of Nehru Hospital PGIMER Chandigarh who were were either diagnosed with cancer or pulmonary nodules on previous Results: In this study, thoracic DES imaging and DT imaging demonstrated superior performance over digital chest radiograph for the detection of lung nodules. These observations are clinically significant, as small lung nodules are challenging to detect. DES imaging and DT imaging have also demonstrated a clinically significant advantage (i.e. a correct change in the diagnostic trajectory of disease cases) as well as more definitive diagnosis of both disease and normal cases. 16.9. The good, bad and ugly of an abstract Presenter: Hesta Friedrich-Nel, Central University of Technology, Free State, South Africa Author: H Friedrich-Nel Introduction: The abstract of an article or research project assists the reader to obtain an overall picture of the content and creates an interest in reading the full article. For this reason an abstract needs to be comprehensive but informative. The word or character limit of an abstract often makes it hard to provide the necessary information in a concise manner. Writing the perfect abstract is thus an art that all researchers need to develop. One of the outcomes in the Bachelor degree in Radiography is that each student has to complete a research project. Each student thus need to prepare a proposal, obtain ethical clearance for the project, write a report, an abstract and do a presentation to attain the outcome. The students receive guidance during the process. They also receive a template to prepare their abstracts. Considering the limited exposure of the undergraduate students to the research process, what can we learn from the abstracts that the students prepared? How can this information assist us in appropriately guiding the student so as to address possible shortcomings? Methods: The abstracts of 14 research projects completed in November 2013 were retrospectively reviewed according to specific criteria. A column (yes/no) on a one page checklist was completed to determine the completeness of information of each abstract. Conclusions: The majority of the abstracts had the following shortcomings: no problem statements, an incomplete methodology and no recommendations. Experience shows that students may leave the preparation of the abstracts for the last minute. The supervisor may thus not have the opportunity to provide feedback. Structured guidance and timely completion may assist to prevent the above scenario. 16.10. Development and psychometric evaluation of the radiographers’ competence scale Presenter: Bodil T. Andersson, Department of Health Sciences, Sweden Authors: Bodil T. Andersson, Lennart Christensson, Bengt Fridlund, Anders Broström Introduction: Assessing the competence of registered radiographers’ clinical work is of great importance because of the recent change in nursing focus and rapid technological development. Self-assessment assists radiographers to validate and improve clinical practice by identifying their strengths as well as areas that may need to be developed. The aim of the study was to develop and psychometrically test a specially designed instrument, the Radiographers Competence Scale (RCS). Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted comprising 406 randomly selected radiographers all over Sweden. The study consisted of two phases; the development of the instrument and evaluation of its psychometric properties. Results: The analysis reduced the initial 54 items to 28 items. A logical two-factor solution was identified; “Nurse initiated care” and “Technical and radiographic processes”. The scale had good internal consistency
ISRRT | Book Of Abstracts
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