Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T17:07:29.097Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The X-ray Department and Psychiatry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

E. P. Larkin
E. P. Larkin*
Affiliation:
Mapperley Hospital, Porchester Road, Nottingham NG3 6AH
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

All X-rays requested by psychiatrists in-training during 1982 and performed by the Department of Radiology of a large mental hospital were analysed. Forty-five per cent of all requests were marked routine, and the majority of these were for chest X-rays; only 4% of these revealed significant abnormality and no patient under the age of 55 had a significant abnormality on routine chest X-ray. All routine skull X-rays were normal. One-third of the long-stay hospital population accounted for one-quarter of the overall workload of the department. It is recommended that: requests for routine skull X-rays be abandoned, and that routine chest X-rays for patients below the age of 55 be restricted to high-risk groups such as immigrants, those on steroids, etc. The financial implications of such a policy are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 146 , Issue 1 , January 1985 , pp. 62 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anonymous (1983) Business management for the NHS? (Editorial). British Medical Journal, 287, 1321–1322.Google Scholar
Anonymous (1975) Routine chest radiographs (Editorial). Lancet. 1, 83–84.Google Scholar
Bessen, H. A. & Rothstein, R. J. (1982) Futility of skull radiography for non-traumatic conditions. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 11, 605–609.Google Scholar
Bonebrake, C. R., Noller, K. L., Loehnen, C. P., Muhm, J. R. & Fish, C. R. (1978) Routine chest roent-genography in pregnancy. Journal of the American Medical Association, 240, 2747–2748.Google Scholar
Brill, P. W., Ewing, M. L. & Dunn, A. A. (1973) The value (?)of routine chest radiography in children and adolescents. Pediatrics. 52, I, 125–127.Google Scholar
Hadlock, F. P., Park, S. K. & Wallace, R. J. (1979) Routine radiographic screening of the chest in pregnant women: is it indicated? Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 54, (iv), 433–436.Google Scholar
Hampton, J. R. (1983) The end of clinical freedom (Editorial). British Medical Journal. 287, 1237–1238.Google Scholar
Hughes, J. & Barraclough, B. M. (1980) Value of routine chest radiography of psychiatric patients. British Medical Journal., 281, 1461–1462.Google Scholar
Kerr, I. H. (1974) The pre-operative chest X-ray. British Journal of Anaesthesia, 46, 558–563.Google Scholar
Liston, E. H., Gerner, R. H., Robertson, A. G. & Ford, C. V. (1979) Routine thoracic radiography for psychiatric patients. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 30, (7), 474–476.Google Scholar
National Study by the Royal College of Radiologists (1979) Pre-operative chest radiology. Lancet, 2, 83–86.Google Scholar
Rastogi, S. C. & Barraclough, B. M. (1983) Skull radiology in patients with psychiatric illness. British Medical Journal, 287, 1259.Google Scholar
Rees, A. M., Roberts, C. J., Bligh, A. S. & Evans, K. T. (1976) Routine pre-operative chest radiography in non-cardiopulmonary surgery. British Medical Journal, I, 1333–1335.Google Scholar
Sagel, S. S., Evens, R. G., Forrest, J. V. & Bramson, R. T. (1974) Efficacy of routine screening and lateral chest radiographs in a hospital based population. New England Medical Journal, 291, 1001–1004.Google Scholar
Weinstein, M. A., Alfidi, R. J. & Duchesneau, P. M. (1977) Computed tomography versus skull radiography. American Journal of Roentgenology, 128, 873.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wood, R. A. & Hoekelman, R. A. (1981) Value of the chest X-ray as a screening test for elective surgery in children. Pediatrics, 67, (iv), 447–452.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.