Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR
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Social media microblogging has made major inroads in physician education and information exchange. The authors evaluated their early experience with Twitter "tweet chat" sessions as a medium to expand the reach and audience of a peer-reviewed radiology journal. ⋯ Early experience with JACR tweet chats demonstrates that organizing Twitter microblogging activities around topics of general interest to their target readership bears the potential for medical journals to increase their audiences and reach.
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Physician malpractice expert witnesses may testify on behalf of physicians or patients. The goal of the study was to assess the experience of neuroradiologists as expert witnesses and their attitudes about such testimony. ⋯ Of neuroradiologists answering the survey, nearly half have served as expert witnesses, and most feel comfortable testifying for both plaintiffs and defendants. Substantive negative perceptions (35.7%) of expert witnesses were found.
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Historically, radiologists' official written reports have functionally been proprietary communications between radiologists and referring providers. Although never secret, these reports have traditionally been archived in the medical record, with tightly controlled access. Patients rarely viewed reports directly. ⋯ In this paper, we outline the challenges and opportunities that arise from direct patient access to radiology reports via web-based portals, and propose an approach to optimizing radiologists' reports in an era of enhanced transparency. We conclude that, in effect, the health information web portal is a "train which has left the station"; patient portals are a nationwide reality, and transparency is now a public and professional expectation. Radiologists urgently need to consider quality implications for their report writing in order to address the challenges these developments pose, and to best harness the potential benefits for patients and providers.