Digitalised Multidisciplinary Conferences Effectively Identify and Prevent Imaging-related Medical Error in Intensive Care Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2025 Jan 8

PMID 39774711

Authors

Gloria Muench

Denis Witham

Kerstin Rubarth

Elke Zimmermann

Susanne Marz

Damaris Praeger

Viktor Wegener

Jens Nee

Marc Dewey

Julian Pohlan

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This study aims to assess the effectiveness of digital multidisciplinary conferences (MDCs) in preventing imaging-related quality management (QM) events during the coronavirus-disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. COVID-19 challenged interdisciplinary exchange and QM measures for patient safety. Regular MDCs between radiologists and intensive care unit (ICU) physicians, introduced in our hospital in 2018, enable re-evaluation of imaging examinations and bilateral feedback. MDC protocols from 2020 to 2021 were analysed regarding imaging-related QM events. Epidemiological data on COVID-19 were matched with MDCs. 333 MDCs including 1324 radiological examinations in 857 patients (median age = 64 (IQR = 55-73) years, 66.7% male) were analysed. MDCs were held within a median of 1 day after imaging (IQR = 1-3). QM events were identified in 2.7% (n = 36/1324) of examinations. This represented a significant decrease compared to a control group from 2018/2019 (QM events identified in 14.0%, p < 0.001). QM incidence remained consistent in the pandemic cohort (regression coefficient estimate = -0.01, 95% confidence interval = [0.000, 0.000], p = 0.68). 81% (n = 29/36) of QM events were report-related, 19% process-related (n = 6/36), and 2.8% indication-related (n = 1/36). In 7.3% (n = 97/1324) of examinations, the patient was affected by COVID-19. With MDCs as an effective feedback mechanism in place, the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic led to no increase in QM incidence. Notably, COVID status did not impact QM event occurrence.

References

Min X, Zhai G, Zhou J, Farias M, Bovik A . Study of Subjective and Objective Quality Assessment of Audio-Visual Signals. IEEE Trans Image Process. 2020; . DOI: 10.1109/TIP.2020.2988148. View

Di Fusco M, Shea K, Lin J, Nguyen J, Angulo F, Benigno M . Health outcomes and economic burden of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the United States. J Med Econ. 2021; 24(1):308-317. DOI: 10.1080/13696998.2021.1886109. View

Bercean B, Birhala A, Ardelean P, Barbulescu I, Benta M, Rasadean C . Evidence of a cognitive bias in the quantification of COVID-19 with CT: an artificial intelligence randomised clinical trial. Sci Rep. 2023; 13(1):4887. PMC: 10039355. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-31910-3. View

Foley S, OLoughlin A, Creedon J . Early experiences of radiographers in Ireland during the COVID-19 crisis. Insights Imaging. 2020; 11(1):104. PMC: 7520621. DOI: 10.1186/s13244-020-00910-6. View

Bartsch S, Ferguson M, McKinnell J, OShea K, Wedlock P, Siegmund S . The Potential Health Care Costs And Resource Use Associated With COVID-19 In The United States. Health Aff (Millwood). 2020; 39(6):927-935. PMC: 11027994. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00426. View

Grasselli G, Zangrillo A, Zanella A, Antonelli M, Cabrini L, Castelli A . Baseline Characteristics and Outcomes of 1591 Patients Infected With SARS-CoV-2 Admitted to ICUs of the Lombardy Region, Italy. JAMA. 2020; 323(16):1574-1581. PMC: 7136855. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2020.5394. View

Hadied M, Patel P, Cormier P, Poyiadji N, Salman M, Klochko C . Interobserver and Intraobserver Variability in the CT Assessment of COVID-19 Based on RSNA Consensus Classification Categories. Acad Radiol. 2020; 27(11):1499-1506. PMC: 7492048. DOI: 10.1016/j.acra.2020.08.038. View

Sinsky C, Brown R, Stillman M, Linzer M . COVID-Related Stress and Work Intentions in a Sample of US Health Care Workers. Mayo Clin Proc Innov Qual Outcomes. 2021; 5(6):1165-1173. PMC: 8651505. DOI: 10.1016/j.mayocpiqo.2021.08.007. View

Bellini D, Panvini N, Rengo M, Vicini S, Lichtner M, Tieghi T . Diagnostic accuracy and interobserver variability of CO-RADS in patients with suspected coronavirus disease-2019: a multireader validation study. Eur Radiol. 2020; 31(4):1932-1940. PMC: 7510765. DOI: 10.1007/s00330-020-07273-y. View

10.

GARLAND L . On the scientific evaluation of diagnostic procedures. Radiology. 1949; 52(3):309-28. DOI: 10.1148/52.3.309. View

11.

Shi H, Han X, Jiang N, Cao Y, Alwalid O, Gu J . Radiological findings from 81 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2020; 20(4):425-434. PMC: 7159053. DOI: 10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30086-4. View

12.

Lauritzen P, Andersen J, Stokke M, Tennstrand A, Aamodt R, Heggelund T . Radiologist-initiated double reading of abdominal CT: retrospective analysis of the clinical importance of changes to radiology reports. BMJ Qual Saf. 2016; 25(8):595-603. PMC: 4975845. DOI: 10.1136/bmjqs-2015-004536. View

13.

Borakati A, Perera A, Johnson J, Sood T . Diagnostic accuracy of X-ray versus CT in COVID-19: a propensity-matched database study. BMJ Open. 2020; 10(11):e042946. PMC: 7650091. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-042946. View

14.

Revel M, Parkar A, Prosch H, Silva M, Sverzellati N, Gleeson F . COVID-19 patients and the radiology department - advice from the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and the European Society of Thoracic Imaging (ESTI). Eur Radiol. 2020; 30(9):4903-4909. PMC: 7170031. DOI: 10.1007/s00330-020-06865-y. View

15.

Muench G, Witham D, Rubarth K, Zimmermann E, Marz S, Praeger D . Imaging intensive care patients: multidisciplinary conferences as a quality improvement initiative to reduce medical error. Insights Imaging. 2022; 13(1):175. PMC: 9636350. DOI: 10.1186/s13244-022-01313-5. View

16.

Ling S, Li J, Che Z, Min X, Zhai G, Callet P . Quality Assessment of Free-Viewpoint Videos by Quantifying the Elastic Changes of Multi-Scale Motion Trajectories. IEEE Trans Image Process. 2020; 30:517-531. DOI: 10.1109/TIP.2020.3037504. View

16.

Won E, Rosenkrantz A . JOURNAL CLUB: Informal Consultations Between Radiologists and Referring Physicians, as Identified Through an Electronic Medical Record Search. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2017; 209(5):965-969. DOI: 10.2214/AJR.17.18050. View

17.

Lai J, Ma S, Wang Y, Cai Z, Hu J, Wei N . Factors Associated With Mental Health Outcomes Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019. JAMA Netw Open. 2020; 3(3):e203976. PMC: 7090843. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.3976. View

18.

Fang Y, Zhang H, Xie J, Lin M, Ying L, Pang P . Sensitivity of Chest CT for COVID-19: Comparison to RT-PCR. Radiology. 2020; 296(2):E115-E117. PMC: 7233365. DOI: 10.1148/radiol.2020200432. View

19.

Coppola F, Faggioni L, Neri E, Grassi R, Miele V . Impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the profession and psychological wellbeing of radiologists: a nationwide online survey. Insights Imaging. 2021; 12(1):23. PMC: 7887566. DOI: 10.1186/s13244-021-00962-2. View