Methodological approaches to evaluating the practice of radiographers’ interpretation of images: A review

Abstract 

Recent initiatives to modernise the National Health Service describe how improving pay structures and staff working lives can be achieved in the form of advanced practitioner and consultant posts. Role development in Radiography represents a fundamental change to professional practice of radiographers and is subject to the provisions of the statutory and professional codes of conduct which govern such practice. In Diagnostic Radiography the response to Government initiatives has led to a change in practice so that radiographers in these new posts provide reports for a variety of imaging modalities. At the same time as there have been changes in the practice of Radiography, the discipline of evidence-based medicine has emerged. Changes in clinical practice should be underpinned by evidence from research. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the methodological approaches used to conduct research that evaluates one of the most salient areas of development in Radiography practice, that is the role of radiographers as advanced or consultant practitioners when interpreting plain radiographs. We begin by discussing what an evaluation is and two broad approaches for conducting health services research, and then appraise the evidence about radiographer reporting in the context of these methods of evaluation. We then suggest future considerations about the methodological approaches to evaluating radiographer reporting practice and identify where there are evidence gaps and the need for further research to inform evidence-based Radiography.

Keywords: Role development, Image interpretation, Research methods