As many as four to five times a day, Leskosky said, he found serious errors in prior readings, despite just four other radiologists being on staff. In one particularly egregious case, a radiologist missed a 17-centimeter tumor in a patient’s pelvis.
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In private practice, radiologists may miss key findings once or twice in a lifetime, Leskosky said.
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A large part of the problem, Leskosky said, is some of the other radiologists on staff were flipping through 50 to 60 patient scans a day, instead of the industry recommended 25 to 30 and, as a result, missing critical findings.
Losing a 17-cm tumor is a pretty aggressive miss, but 1) people in private practice absolutely miss a key finding more than once or twice per lifetime and 2) there is no “industry” to recommend a work-level (let alone one that’s used in practice).
Firing the whistleblower, however, is a pretty egregious no-no, and I’m pretty sure I’ve done some online modules at the VA about that being against the rules.
All said, the “industry” does need better PR though, because there are a lot of radiologists in practice who would love to read just 25 cases a day.