Uncollected Radiographs in a National Hospital with Low Resources

Abstract

Background: Communication between clinicians and radiologists is commonly through reports written by radiologists. It is important this information gets to the clinicians if it is to be utilized. Many radiographs remain uncollected in Mulago Hospital X-ray Department. The aim of this study was to establish if uncollected radiographs in Assessment Center x-ray unit had pathology and reports.

Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study carried out from October to December 2005 at Mulago Hospital in Kampala. A radiologist looked at 699 x-ray envelopes recording all data in a precoded questionnaire. EPI –INFO and SPSS 10 were used for analysis.

Results: The CXR accounted for 71.2% of requested examinations. Most radiographs had pathology; reports were written within 24hours. Reasons for no reports written included non-diagnostic radiograph (66%), no clinical history (17%), and non-labeled radiograph (3.8%) among others.

Conclusion: Most uncollected radiographs in Assessment Center X-ray unit in Mulago Hospital had pathology and reports, which the referring clinician did not receive.