Safety of working patterns among UK neuroradiologists: what can we learn from the aviation industry and cognitive science?

Safety of working patterns among UK neuroradiologists: what can we learn from the aviation industry and cognitive science? Br J Radiol. 2018 Jan 15;:20170284 Authors: Reicher J, Currie S, Birchall D Abstract As the volume and complexity of imaging in the UK continues to rise, there is pressure on radiologists to spend increasing lengths of time reporting to cope with the growing workload. However, there is limited guidance for radiologists about structuring the working day to achieve the necessary balance between satisfactory reporting volume and maintaining quality and safety. We surveyed 86 Neuroradiologists (receiving 59 responses), regarding time spent reporting, frequency and duration of work breaks, and break activities. Our results demonstrate that some neuroradiologists report for up to 12 hours a day and for 4 hours before taking a break. Mean duration of breaks is less than 15 minutes and these often consist of computer screen-based or cognitively demanding tasks. Many areas of medicine have looked to the aviation industry to develop improvements in safety through regulated, standardised practices. There are parallels between the work of air traffic controllers (ATCs) and radiologists. We review the legislation that controls the working hours of UK ATCs to minimise fatigue-related errors, and its scientific basis. We also consider the vigilance decrement, a concept in cognitive science which describes the reduction in perfo...
Source: The British Journal of Radiology - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Br J Radiol Source Type: research