title: Compliance with the Royal College of Radiologists' guidelines on the use of pre-operative chest radiographs.
abstract: Clinical compliance with the Royal College of Radiologists' guidelines on the use of pre-operative chest radiology was examined in a random sample of patients in four hospitals in England and Wales. Pre-operative clinical data were abstracted from medical reports and, in one hospital, from special chest radiograph request forms completed by clinicians. Seventy-five per cent of patients had clinical indications warranting a pre-operative chest radiograph. This level of compliance is compatible with that found with other guidelines and would suggest that the pre-operative chest radiograph guidelines are suitable for wider implementation in the National Health Service.
mesh_terms: D006287:Health Planning Guidelines; D006801:Humans; D011300:Preoperative Care; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012955:Societies, Medical; D006113:United Kingdom