Teaching chest X-ray reading for child tuberculosis suspects.

Setting: Cape Town, South Africa.

Objective: To improve the reading of chest X-rays (CXRs) in child tuberculosis (TB) suspects.

Design: We designed a reporting and recording form to assist in the diagnosis of childhood TB from CXRs. We then developed an image bank of antero-posterior and lateral CXR pairs, with each image pair assigned to one of four diagnostic categories. Finally, we designed and carried out a 1-day training course to teach clinicians how to read paediatric CXRs, with pre- and post-course assessments.

Results: Of the 27 participants included, 17 (63%) were women. The median age was 38 years (interquartile range [IQR] 32.5-43.5). The median pre-training score was 16.0/30 (IQR 13.0-18.0) and the median post-training score was 17.0 (IQR 13.5-21.0). Sensitivity (P = 0.09) and specificity (P = 0.06) to detect TB did not change as a result of the course; however, the Wilcoxon signed ranks paired-sample test indicated an increase in the participants' overall ability to read CXRs (P = 0.017).

Conclusions: Teaching clinicians with a 1-day training course using a systematic approach and a standardised form led to a limited improvement in CXR reading ability.