REJECT-REPEAT ANALYSIS OF PLAIN RADIOGRAPHS AS A QUALITY INDICATOR AT UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURI TEACHING HOSPITAL (UMTH)

*Sadiq A.A., Miftaudeen M.N., Mohammed A., Akpaniwo G.M., Girei A., Garba I., Nwobi IC.

ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine the level of improvement of reject rate, persistent main cause of repeated films and re-occurring most common projection(s). Methodology: A prospective design was carried out on radiographs of poor image quality collected from the 3 conventional diagnostic rooms for a period of 9 months (April – December, 2011) at the Radiology department, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. All radiographs with good diagnostic image quality, those used for contrast study and mammograms formed the exclusion criteria. Result: The reject rate was found to be 29.34%, Chest radiograph has the highest reject (12.19%), over and under exposure contributed to about 24.28% and 36.2% respectively. Anatomical cutoff ranked the next (21.91%) and motional blur (0.14%) the least. Conclusion: The study has outlined reasons why radiographs were rejected and the rejected rate for the period of study to be 29.34% which is almost 5x greater than the recommendation given by World Health Organization (WHO)[11] on radiation protection, Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, (CRCPD)[3] and Quality assurance for Radiographers and Radiological Technologist, this calls for immediate rectification strategies like knowledge update, repairs and frequent quality assurance measures in place.

Keywords: reject-repeat, quality indicator, analysis, radiographs.