• Communication of Critical Findings - It is the responsibility of the interpreting radiologist to notify the requesting physician and/or their appointee of any imaging finding that based on the radiologist’s judgment and the clinical data provided, will or could affect patient care either near term or long term.
• Report Style Guidelines - The goal of a good radiology report is to provide sufficient detail for the referring physician to generate a “mental picture” of the abnormality, and to know the suspected diagnosis, or the next appropriate step in evaluation.
• Communication of Important But Non-Critical Findings to the Emergency Department - With the agreement of Steven Polevoi M.D. (Medical Director, UCSF Emergency Department), findings in patients from the Emergency Department that might require follow-up, but that are not considered of immediate or major clinical consequence (e.g., lung nodule that needs repeat CT to confirm stability), can be notified in person or by voicemail to the ED Discharge Coordinator at 415-353-1550. The Discharge Coordinator has access to the ED records and is able to contact patients and primary physicians for follow-up purposes. This does not change the policy with respect to CRITICAL findings (see above).