THE RED DOT SYSTEM: Emergency Diagnosis Impact and Digital Radiology Implementation - A review

Abstract

Radiographer abnormality detection schemes (RADS) were introduced in the early 1980s to assist emergency departments. The development of PACS systems are affecting health professionals forcing them to evolve along, reviewing images on a computer monitor rather than on radiographic film. This article reviewed published articles that evaluated the impact of the use of a Red Dot System in patient outcome of emergency trauma patients and assessed the implementation of a Red Dot System in a Radiology Department with digital radiography and PACS. Few articles addressed the implementation issues and use of a Red Dot system in Computed Radiology. Radiographer skeletal red dot studies, had sensitivity and specificity of, respectively, 0.71 and 0.96 pre-training, and 0.81 and 0.95 post-training, compared with a reference standard. The use of radiographer abnormality detection schemes such as Red Dot and reporting has the potential to improve the diagnosis and outcome of emergency patients. The arrival of Information Technologies (IT) to healthcare and the introduction of Digital Radiography have limited the functionality of RADS due to incompatibility of new technology with the standard practice. New image technology solutions in Radiology should enhance the development and utilization of radiographer skills in RADS environments.