title: The use of bedside chest radiography at a university hospital. Data on a two-week period.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the requests for bedside chest radiography (BCR) by clinicians.
  
  
  METHODS
  After IRB approval, we retrieved the patients' clinical records for demographics, unit, and duration for recovery in a two weeks period. For each BCR, exposure data and the reason for BCR were registered. The BCR results were categorized as one or more of the followings: negative, regular/irregular device position, known finding(s) unmodified/modified in respect with the previous BCR, new expected finding(s) (pleural effusion, low ventilation), or new unexpected findings (pulmonary edema, pneumothorax). As a utility indicator of BCR, we considered the rate of chest CT performed in these patients during the study period and the following week. We have estimated the effective radiation dose.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 337 BCRs (126 patients) entered the analysis, 74% of them being performed in post-surgery intensive care unit. Seventy-3 patients (58%) performed 1 or 2 BCRs, 53 (42%) 3 or more BCRs with a maximum of 13 BCRs performed on a newborn. The mean total effective dose was 0.2 mSv/patient (maximum 1 mSv). In post-surgery intensive care unit the mean daily BCR rate was 0.8/day (maximum 2/day). On 337 BCR requests, 49% showed no motivations at all, 42% reported the word "check" and in 9% a well-defined clinical query was specified. The rate of incorrect catheter position and new unexpected findings was 4%. One chest CT have been requested.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BCR is often requested as a routine examination with a little rate of unexpected findings.
authors.affiliation: Scuola di Specializzazione in Radiodiagnostica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Festa del Perdono 7, 20100 Milan, Italy. alessandra.delnevo@fastwebnet.it
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delnevo
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tritella
authors.forename: Luca Alessandro
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Carbonaro
authors.forename: Oxana
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bobrechova
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Leo
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sardanelli
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000706:statistics & numerical data