Differing Interpretations of Report Terminology Between Primary Care Physicians and Radiologists.
OBJECTIVE
The lexicons of the radiologist and the referring physician may not be synonymous, which could cause confusion with radiology reporting. To further explore this possibility, we surveyed radiologists and primary care physicians (PCPs) regarding their respective interpretations of report terminology.


METHODS
A survey was distributed to radiologists and PCPs through an internal listserv. Respondents were asked to provide an interpretation of the statistical likelihood of the presence of metastatic disease based upon the terminology used within a hypothetical radiology report. Ten common modifying terms were evaluated. Potential responses for the statistical likelihoods included 0%-25%, 26%-50%, 51%-75%, 76%-99%, and 100%. Differences between the groups were evaluated using either a χ2test or Fisher exact test, as appropriate.


RESULTS
The phrases "diagnostic for metastatic disease" and "represents metastatic disease" were selected by a high percentage of both groups as conferring a 100% likelihood of "true metastatic disease." The phrases "cannot exclude metastatic disease" and "may represent metastatic disease" were selected by a high proportion of both groups as conferring a 0% likelihood of "true metastatic disease." Radiologists assigned a higher statistical likelihood to the terms "diagnostic for metastatic disease" (P = .016), "represents metastatic disease" (P = .004), "suspicious for metastatic disease" (P = .04), "consistent with metastatic disease" (P < .0001), and "compatible with metastatic disease" (P = .003).


CONCLUSIONS
A qualitative agreement among radiologists and PCPs exists concerning the significance of the evaluated terminology, although radiologists assigned a higher statistical likelihood than PCPs for several phrases.
Division of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. Electronic address: ajgunnmd@gmail.com.
Andrew J
AJ
Gunn
Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.
Mitch C
MC
Tuttle
Division of Emergency Radiology and Teleradiology, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Efren J
EJ
Flores
Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Mark D
MD
Mangano
Department of Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Susan E
SE
Bennett
Division of Abdominal Imaging and Intervention, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Dushyant V
DV
Sahani
Department of Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Garry
G
Choy
Division of Abdominal Imaging and Intervention, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Giles W
GW
Boland
D019937:Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures / Q000592:standards*; D004282:Documentation / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000072177:Radiologists / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011871:Radiology / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014481:United States
Radiology reporting; informatics; practice improvement; referring physicians; report terminology