Preliminary radiology resident interpretations versus final attending radiologist interpretations and the impact on patient care in a community hospital.

Objective: At academic institutions, overnight emergency radiology examinations are interpreted by the on-call radiology resident and are reviewed by an attending radiologist in the morning. The objective of our study was to determine the rate of discrepancies between the two interpretations and the possible effect, if any, on patient care.

Materials And Methods: The preliminary reports for 11,908 emergency diagnostic imaging examinations interpreted after hours by residents over a 3-year period (January 2002-January 2005) were reviewed retrospectively for any discrepancy with the attending radiologist's final interpretation.