Effectiveness of on-site education for quality assurance of screening ultrasonography for hepatocellular carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the usefulness of on-site education for clinical imaging evaluation using quality assurance (QA) testing of surveillance ultrasonography (US) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).


METHODS
Thirty-eight medical institutes underwent on-site education in 2012 for QA testing of clinical imaging evaluation of surveillance US for HCC. Failure rates and mean scores of clinical imaging evaluation for surveillance US of the 2011 survey, the 2012 survey after on-site education and the 2013 survey were compared.


RESULTS
Failure rates and mean scores of the 2011 survey, the 2012 survey after education and the 2013 survey were 81.6%, 18.4%, 21.1% and 61.7, 82.7 and 74.6, respectively. Pair-wise analyses demonstrated that the failure rate of the 2011 survey was significantly larger compared to that observed in the other surveys. Mean score of the 2013 survey was worse than that of the 2012 survey after on-site education.


CONCLUSIONS
On-site education positively impacts the failure rate and scores of clinical imaging evaluation of screening US for HCC. However, the impact may be reduced over time, and repeated, annual education might be necessary to maintain US quality.
Department of Radiology, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Joon-Il
JI
Choi
Department of Radiology, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea. sejung@catholic.ac.kr.
Seung Eun
SE
Jung
Department of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Woo Kyoung
WK
Jeong
Department of Radiology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Hyun Cheol
HC
Kim
Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, USA.
Chandana
C
Lall
Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, USA; National Cancer Control Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
Yeol
Y
Kim
Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, USA; National Cancer Control Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
Kui Son
KS
Choi
National Cancer Control Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
Mina
M
Suh
Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, USA; National Cancer Control Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
Boyoung
B
Park
D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014465:Ultrasonics / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000592:standards*