Introduction: The purpose of this randomised controlled trial was to compare the effectiveness of intensive and non-intensive formats of delivery of image interpretation education for radiographers.
Methods: A multi-centre, stratified (by years of experience) two group parallel arm, single blind, randomised controlled trial was conducted. Participants (n = 48) were allocated to one of two groups to receive image interpretation education: (1) intensive format (13.5 h over two consecutive days) (2) non-intensive (sequential 90-min tutorials delivered 1 week apart). Participants undertook x-ray interpretation tests before education, at 1-week post-education completion and at 12-week post-education completion.
Results: Image interpretation performance was not significantly different between groups at baseline. A generalised linear model indicated that participants who received intensive education format improved image interpretation performance by a greater margin than the group that received non-intensive education at 1-week (P = 0.002) and 12-week (P < 0.001) follow-up assessments.
Conclusions: Although both formats of education delivery may be beneficial, the findings of this study have indicated that the intensive format of delivery was more effective at improving radiographers' ability to interpret trauma radiographs in the weeks after completion of the image interpretation program.
Keywords: Education; image interpretation; radiographers; randomised control trial.
© 2018 The Authors. Journal of Medical Radiation Sciences published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Society of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy and New Zealand Institute of Medical Radiation Technology.