BACKGROUND Guidelines from the Royal College of Radiologists and National Patient Safety Agency highlight the crucial importance of "fail-safe" alert systems for the communication of critical and significant clinically unexpected results between imaging departments and referring clinicians. Electronic alert systems are preferred, to minimise errors, increase workflow efficiency and improve auditability. To date there is a paucity of evidence on the utility of such systems. We investigated i) how often emailed radiology alerts were acknowledged by referring clinicians, ii) how frequently follow-up imaging was requested when indicated and iii) whether practise improved after an educational intervention. METHODS 100 cases were randomly selected before and after an educational intervention at a tertiary referral centre in London, where the email-based 'RadAlert' system (Rivendale Systems, UK) has been in operation since May 2017. RESULTS Following educational intervention, 'accepted' alerts increased from 39% to 56%, 'abandoned' alerts reduced from 55% to 37% and 'declined' alerts decreased from 5% to 3%. There was evidence to confirm that, when indicated, further imaging had been requested for 78% of all alerts, 78% of 'accepted' alerts and 76% of 'abandoned' alerts both before and after educational intervention. CONCLUSIONS Acknowledgment of report alerts by referring clinicians increased after departmental education / governance meetings. However, a proportion of email alerts remained unacknowledged. It is incumbent on reporting radiologists to be aware that electronic alert systems cannot be solely relied upon and to take the necessary steps to ensure significant and clinically unsuspected findings are relayed to referring clinical teams in a timely manner.

中文翻译：

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放射学报告警报-是否通过电子邮件收到“故障安全”警报并采取了行动？

背景技术皇家放射医师学院和美国国家患者安全局的指南强调了“故障安全”警报系统对于在成像部门和转诊临床医生之间传达关键和重大临床意想不到的结果的至关重要性。最好使用电子警报系统，以最大程度地减少错误，提高工作流程效率并提高可审计性。迄今为止，关于这种系统的实用性的证据很少。我们调查了以下情况：i）推荐临床医生确认通过电子邮件发出的放射学警报的频率，ii）指示时要求多长时间进行一次随访成像，以及iii）教育干预后实践是否有所改善。方法在伦敦第三大转诊中心进行教育干预前后，随机选择100例病例，自2017年5月以来一直在使用基于电子邮件的“ RadAlert”系统（英国，Rivendale Systems）。结果在进行了教育干预之后，“接受”警报从39％增加到56％，“被遗弃”警报从55％减少到37 ％和“已拒绝”警报从5％降低到3％。有证据证实，在进行干预之前和之后，在进行指示时，要求对所有警报中的78％，“接受”警报中的78％和“放弃”警报中的76％进行进一步成像。结论在部门教育/治理会议之后，转诊临床医生对报告警报的认可增加。但是，仍有一部分电子邮件警报未被确认。