Analysis of the degree of accuracy and reliability of emergency medicine residents in interpreting computed tomography of the abdomen

Abstract

Aim: In this study, we aimed to investigate the accuracy and reliability of emergency medicine residents in the interpretation of radiological investigation of patients with trauma, who received abdominal computed tomography in the emergency department.Materials and Methods: We prospectively evaluated the reports of 200 patients who presented to the emergency medicine department of a university hospital with trauma, and who received abdominal computed tomography (CT) due to suspected abdominal pathology.Results: In this study, 33% (66/200) of the patients were female and 67% (134/200) were male. CT scans of these 200 patients were examined by emergency medicine residents and radiology specialists. The results of the study showed that emergency medicine residents performed well in interpreting abdominal CT scans of patients with trauma with an agreement rate of 90.5%. Evaluation of the results obtained in our study suggested that emergency medicine residents generally performed well in interpreting abdominal CT scans of patients with trauma with suspected abdominal pathology in the emergency room.Conclusion: The high rate of agreement may be associated with the fact that emergency medicine residents are usually the first physicians who meet and treat patients with trauma and thus have gained sufficient experience in this field.