Data Quality of Request Forms for Lumbar Spine Radiography in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Sri Lanka

Abstract Objective: To assess the data quality of request forms for lumbar spine X-ray received by a tertiary care hospital in the Central Province, Sri Lanka. Results: A total number of 185 lumbar spine X-ray request forms received by the Department of Radiology were analysed. Data quality was assessed on the aspects of completeness, accuracy and legibility. Completeness was assessed for different sections separately and altogether eight sections in the request forms were analyzed. Out of the 185 request forms, 138 (74.5%) had complete entries for all the eight sections. Thirteen (7.0%) requests failed to provide the clinical history. Five request forms (2.7%) failed to provide the sex and the age of the patient. Thirty two (17.3%) did not provide details on the region of examination. Accuracy was assessed in relation to the clinical history and region of examination. In the 172 requests, which gave a clinical history, 167 (97.1%) provided relevant clinical histories for requesting lumbar spine X-rays. Five requests (2.9%) provided irrelevant history and five (2.9%) requests contained non-standard abbreviations. Five (2.7%) referrals were not readable by the radiologists. Hence, the data quality of lumbar spine X-ray request forms received by the Department of Radiology needs further improvement.