Ekpo E U, Egbe N O, Akpan B E
1 Department of Radiography and Radiology, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria.
2 Clinical Applications Unit, GE Healthcare, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
Br J Radiol. 2015 Jul;88(1051):20150023. doi: 10.1259/bjr.20150023. Epub 2015 May 12.
To assess the performance of Nigerian radiographers in interpretation of plain chest radiographs and to assess whether age, years since qualification and sector of practice are associated with performance.
A test set of 50 radiographs containing 23 cases with no pathology (normal) and 27 abnormal cases (cardiopulmonary conditions) independently confirmed by 3 radiologists were presented to 51 radiographers in a random order. Readers independently evaluated radiographs for absence or presence of disease and stated the location, radiographic features and diagnosis. Readers self-reported their age, years since qualification and sector of practice. Receiver operating characteristic was used to assess the performance. Mann-Whitney U test was used to assess whether age, years since qualification and sector of practice were associated with performance.
Mean location sensitivity was 88.9 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.787-0.980]. Mean sensitivity and specificity were 76.9 (95% CI, 0.658-0.864) and 79.8 (95% CI, 0.658-0.864), respectively. Age was not associated with performance (p = 0.07). Number of years qualified as radiographer (p = 0.005) and private practice (p = 0.004) were positively associated with performance.
Nigerian radiographers can correctly report chest radiographs to a reasonable standard, and performance is associated with number of years since qualification and the sector of practice.
There are less than 300 radiologists serving a Nigerian population of about 170 million; therefore, X-ray interpretation by radiographers deserves consideration. Nigerian radiographers have potential to interpret chest X-ray in the clinical setting, and this may significantly improve radiology service delivery in this region.
评估尼日利亚放射技师解读胸部平片的表现，并评估年龄、资格获得年限和执业部门是否与表现相关。
向51名放射技师随机呈现一组由3名放射科医生独立确认的50张胸片测试集，其中包括23例无病变（正常）病例和27例异常病例（心肺疾病）。读者独立评估胸片是否存在疾病，并说明病变位置、影像学特征和诊断结果。读者自行报告其年龄、资格获得年限和执业部门。采用受试者工作特征曲线评估表现。使用曼-惠特尼U检验评估年龄、资格获得年限和执业部门是否与表现相关。
平均位置敏感度为88.9[95%置信区间（CI），0.787 - 0.980]。平均敏感度和特异度分别为76.9（95%CI，0.658 - 0.864）和79.8（95%CI，0.658 - 0.864）。年龄与表现无关（p = 0.07）。放射技师资格获得年限（p = 0.005）和私人执业（p = 0.004）与表现呈正相关。
尼日利亚放射技师能够以合理的标准正确报告胸部X光片，且表现与资格获得年限和执业部门相关。
在为约1.7亿尼日利亚人口服务的放射科医生不足300名；因此，放射技师进行X光解读值得考虑。尼日利亚放射技师有潜力在临床环境中解读胸部X光片，这可能会显著改善该地区的放射学服务提供。
