title: Patient-centered care in diagnostic radiology: lessons learned from patient interviews prior to musculoskeletal magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Since most radiologists do not meet with patients, questionnaires often substitute for face-to-face interviews to collect patients' history. We report the effect of direct radiologist-patient interviews on the quality of patient history recorded for musculoskeletal magnetic resonance imaging.
  
  
  METHODS
  Magnetic resonance imaging questionnaires completed by outpatients were separated into 2 cohorts: (1) imaging center (IC) forms with no radiologist interviews; (2) hospital (H) forms with radiologist-patient interviews. Three blinded radiologists independently scored each questionnaire for quality on a 5-point scale. A separate quantitative analysis was also performed. The unpaired t test, Fischer exact test, and χ² test were used to compare the cohorts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean score of the H cohort among reviewers was superior to the IC cohort: 3.79 (±0.98) versus 3.04 (±1.00), P < .0001. Each reviewer also independently found the H cohort to be of higher quality for patient history, P < .0001. For the IC cohort, 7.8% of questionnaires did not report a single symptom versus 0.0% in the H cohort, P = .0331. Also, the IC cohort recorded symptoms in 2 or less words more often than the H cohort, P < .0001.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Brief radiologist-patient interviews are superior for obtaining a higher quality of patient history for musculoskeletal MRI than patient questionnaires alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore (Drs Davis, Mulligan, and Resnik); and Angelina Diagnostic Radiology Associates, Lufkin, Texas (Dr Moszkowicz).
authors.forename: Derik L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Mulligan
authors.forename: Arie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moszkowicz
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Resnik
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D008487:Medical History Taking / Q000592:standards*; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011871:Radiology / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D016037:Single-Blind Method