Radiology Reports-New Age Changes

In an open letter publisher in JACR, authors Michael A Bruno et al have made an interesting point. According to them, historically, radiologists' official written reports have functionally been proprietary communications between radiologists and referring providers. As patient-centered care, transparent communication, and electronic archiving have converged, however, radiologists' reports, like many other medical record components, are increasingly accessible to patients via web-based “portals.”   Direct consequence of such accessibility is need for radiologist to be clear worded and avoid technical lingo.  

 Authors emphasize that  radiologists urgently need to consider quality implications for their report writing in order to address the challenges these developments pose, and to best harness the potential benefits for patients and providers.

Reference and Further Reading: The “Open Letter”: Radiologists' Reports in the Era of Patient Web Portals. Journal of the American College of Radiology. Volume 11, Issue 9, Pages 863–867, September 2014.