title: The effect of a user-guided request form for chest radiographs in a neonatal intensive care unit.
abstract: The objectives of this prospective, observational study were to determine the current indications of requesting chest radiograph in sick infants in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the effect of a user-guided request form for chest radiographs of sick infants. During the three-month study period, a total of 423 chest radiographs were requested on 159 sick newborn infants in the intensive area of this NICU. A majority (55.6%) of these chest radiographs were performed to verify positions tips of either central catheters (27.4%) or endotracheal tubes (28.1%). The number of chest radiographs done during the period when the user-guided request forms were utilised was significantly lower (1.24 per patient) than before (1.37 per patient) or after (1.58 per patients) the period when these forms were in use (p=0.01). The rate of radiological abnormalities detected in radiographs requested to verify position of tips of endotracheal tubes were significantly greater during the period when user-guided forms were used than when they were not (p=0.01). A significantly higher proportion of changes in management were instituted when the user-guided forms were in use than during the period when they were not used (p=0.03). We conclude that a user-guided radiographic request form helps doctors in NICU to carry out their management more effectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Institute of Paediatrics, Kuala Lumpur.
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Yong
authors.forename: N Y
authors.initials: NY
authors.lastname: Boo
mesh_terms: D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015931:Intensive Care, Neonatal; D008296:Malaysia; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D012017:Referral and Consultation