Successful reporting by non-medical practitioners such as radiographers, will always be task-specific and limited in scope

Abstract 

Reporting by radiographers is currently an extended role. The College of Radiographers however considers that in the future reporting will be a requirement for all radiographers.

If performance is looked at, then in certain specific tasks trained radiographers can match the accuracy of radiologists, such as A&E skeletal reporting and mammography. But radiologists themselves are prone to interpretation errors.

Communication of radiological findings is important if findings are to be translated into useful diagnostic outcomes for the patient. Radiographers are able to provide a descriptive report but lack the training and flexibility to provide a medical report and make judgments about the relevance of radiological findings.

Experts when viewing radiographic images are visually efficient, demonstrate flexible reasoning and have many disease schemata to resolve incongruities in clinical data. We do not yet have a definitive answer to what makes a good reporting radiographer, but without a medical training it is unlikely that radiographers can become experts beyond their current role in certain well-circumscribed tasks.

Keywords: Communication, Performance, Expertise, Radiological report, Image interpretation