Review of Junior Resident Plain Film Reporting and Audit in Singapore.

BACKGROUND: Graduate medical education in Singapore recently underwent significant restructuring, leading to the accreditation of residency programs by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-International (ACGME-I). In radiology, this involved a change in teaching and quality assurance of plain film (PF) reporting. PF reported by junior residents (postgraduate year 1-3) are subject to a 50% random audit. To date, national data on junior resident performance in PF reporting have not been published. OBJECTIVE: We reviewed performance in PF reporting under the current teaching and audit framework. METHODS: Retrospective review of junior resident reported PF audit data from all 3 radiology residency programs in Singapore. The number of residents audited, number of PF reported and audited, and major discrepancy rates were analyzed. RESULTS: On average, 86 440 PF were audited annually nationwide from an estimated 184 288 junior resident-reported PF. Each program trained between 4 to 24 junior residents annually (mean 15), averaging about 44 each year nationwide. A mean of 28 813 PF were audited annually in each program (range 4355-50 880). An estimated mean of 4148 PF (range 1452-9752) were reported per junior resident per year, about 346 PF per month. The major discrepancy rate ranged from 0.04% to 1.13% (mean 0.34%). One resident required remediation in the study period. CONCLUSIONS: Structured residency training in Singapore has produced a high level of junior resident competency in PF interpretation.