CT Scans will continue to be performed in Drumheller following an almost year–long review. However, they will now be interpreted by doctors in Red Deer.
A review into diagnostic imaging performed at the Drumheller Health Centre was concluded and it revealed an error rate of about 10-11 per cent in CT scan interpretations according to Dr. Evan Lundall, Central Zone Medical Director.
Last December, a review of six months of CT scans interpreted by a radiologist at the Drumheller Health Centre was called after 34 interpretation errors were discovered.
“When you look at the magnitude of review, what we would need to do is assemble a small army of duly qualified experts, radiologists, to do the review,” said Dr. Lundall. “That was a bit of a challenge, but we got the job done.”
He said the review was completed to ensure safety and quality.
“We found there was an error rate of 10-11 per cent that may have affected patient care, but the fact that we did a complete review of the CT scans means that we provide information on all of them to the attending physicians so that they could discuss this with their patients. As you know, patients were quite perturbed by this potential so what we did was supply addendum to all the physicians on all the reports.
“If I am a statistic, even if I’m one per cent, that’s not good enough. So from my perspective, seeing that issues were highlighted, what we needed to do was make sure even if the error rate was minor it was made abundantly clear so physicians and their patients could follow through,” he said.
He explains that the errors have to be looked at in the clinical context to gauge how serious the issue could be.
“Especially if a patient hears there is a potential problem, but has no yardstick to measure it against, that in itself is wrong because it creates more anxiety about a condition, and that would not be fair,” said Dr. Lundall. “I was very impressed with the patience that patients had and also very impressed with the input and seriousness with which regular family physicians and specialists took to allay the anxieties of their patients.”
When the review was called in December of 2011, the radiologist was not practicing and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta was informed of the review. He has since been reinstated with conditions.
“The involvement of the College of Physicians and Surgeons had to be there throughout, because if there was a potential performance issue, it is the College of Physicians and Surgeons is the one that grants people licensing,” explains Dr. Lundall.
“We collaborated with the on this issue and after a period of time, and with some educational upgrades that took place we found to support patients in all of this, he was reinstated toward the end of August.
“The College of Physicians placed a restriction, so that he is no longer performing CT scans. So that problem is taken care of. Even though we are offering a CT scan service in Drumheller because believe me, we need a CT scan service, the interpretation is not done by the radiologist, it is done in Red Deer.”
He adds the doctor continues to practice in general radiology and ultrasound locally.
“It is hard to restore confidence in a populace when the potential for your safety is threatened…So with our collaboration, that restriction was placed on his license,” said Dr. Lundall.
He praised local physicians throughout this process, from the review and patient support, to reintegration.
“What we don’t see is isolation and perhaps performance issues. There needs to be those checks and balances.”
