A study in Current Biology has found a possible way to cut the number of mistakes made by medical staff looking for breast and cervical cancers. US researchers found that the time spent and errors made made during a visual search for target items in X-ray images varied according to the chances of finding the target.
"If you are trying to find 20 cases of breast cancer from 40 mammograms, you'll find more of them than if you look for the same 20 cases from 2,000 mammograms", said lead author, Jeremy Wolfe of Harvard Medical School.
The authors say that doing a booster exercise before starting work helps them to visualise what they are looking for and improves their search success rate in the subsequent session.
Richard Evans, Chief Executive of the Society of Radiographers said: "I look forward to seeing more details about this research, but radiographers would welcome techniques which help ensure the best possible standards." He pointed out that the NHS already monitors the performance of everyone involved in breast screening through a regular audit. Source: BBC, 16 January, 2010. tinyurl.com/yg4mson
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