Impact of a structured reporting template on the quality of HRCT radiology reports for interstitial lung disease

Purpose: This QI study compared the completeness of HRCT radiology reports before and after the imple-mentation of a disease-specific structured reporting template for suspected cases of interstitial lung disease (ILD).Materials and methods: A pre-post study of radiology reports for HRCT of the thorax at a multicenter health system was performed. Data was collected in 6-month period intervals before (June 2019-November 2019) and after (January 2021-June 2021) the implementation of a disease-specific template. The use of the template was voluntary. The primary outcome measure was the completeness of HRCT reports graded based on the docu-mentation of ten descriptors. The secondary outcome measure assessed which descriptor(s) improved after the intervention.Results: 521 HRCT reports before and 557 HRCT reports after the intervention were reviewed. Of the 557 reports, 118 reports (21%) were created using the structured reporting template. The mean completeness score of the pre -intervention group was 9.20 (SD = 1.08) and the post-intervention group was 9.36 (SD = 1.03) with a difference of-0.155, 95% CI [-0.2822,-0.0285, p < 0.0001]. Within the post-intervention group, the mean completeness score of the unstructured reports was 9.25 (SD = 1.07) and the template reports was 9.93 (SD = 0.25) with a difference of-0.677, 95% CI [-0.7871,-0.5671, p < 0.0001]. After the intervention, the use of two descriptors improved significantly: presence of honeycombing from 78.3% to 85.1% (p < 0.0039) and technique from 90% to 96.6% (p < 0.0001).Discussion: Shifting to disease-specific structured reporting for HRCT exams of suspected ILD is beneficial, as it improves the completeness of radiology reports. Further research on how to improve the voluntary uptake of a disease-specific template is needed to help increase the acceptance of structured reporting among radiologists.