• Courtney A Woodfield and Martha B Mainiero.
• Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI 02903, USA. cwoodfield@lifespan.org
• J Am Coll Radiol. 2008 Jul 1; 5 (7): 842-6.

PurposeThe study's purpose was to determine the effectiveness of a didactic lecture for teaching and evaluating radiology resident dictation skills.MethodsA 23-question test was created to assess resident knowledge of the American College of Radiology practice guidelines for reporting and our institution-specific requirements for communication of diagnostic imaging results. The test was administered to 23 residents before and after a 40-minute didactic lecture covering the structure of radiology reports and requirements for communication of imaging findings. The pre- and postlecture tests were graded on the basis of the number of correct answers. Data were analyzed using the mixed linear model for repeated measures and the Holm test for group comparisons.ResultsMean pre- and postlecture test scores were 74.6% +/- 2.73% and 94.6% +/- 5.94% for postgraduate year (PGY) 2, 88.1% +/- 5.55% and 95.6% +/- 4.50% for PGY 3, 94.8% +/- 2.5% and 100% +/- 0% for PGY 4, and 96.8% +/- 1.79% and 98.4% +/- 2.19% for PGY 5, respectively. The increase of pre- to postlecture test scores was statistically significant for PGY 2, PGY 3, and PGY 4 residents (P < .005). Pre- to postlecture test improvement was greatest for PGY 2 residents. Test performance of PGY 2 residents compared with PGY 5 residents was statistically different.ConclusionTest scores for PGY 2 to PGY 4 residents significantly increased after didactic instruction on the reporting and communication of diagnostic imaging results. These findings suggest that a lecture and test format can be used to teach and assess radiology resident reporting and communication skills.

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