Is work overload associated with diagnostic errors on 18 F-FDG-PET/CT?

Purpose: To determine the association between workload and diagnostic errors on ¹⁸ F-FDG-PET/CT.
Materials and Methods: This study included 103 ¹⁸ F-FDG-PET/CT scans with a diagnostic error that was corrected with an addendum between March 2018 and July 2023. All scans were performed at a tertiary care center. The workload of each nuclear medicine physician or radiologist who authorized the ¹⁸ F-FDG-PET/CT report was determined on the day the diagnostic error was made and normalized for his or her own average daily production (workload _normalized ). A workload _normalized of more than 100% indicates that the nuclear medicine physician or radiologist had a relative work overload, while a value of less than 100% indicates a relative work underload on the day the diagnostic error was made. The time of the day the diagnostic error was made was also recorded. Workload _normalized was compared to 100% using a signed rank sum test, with the hypothesis that it would significantly exceed 100%. A Mann-Kendall test was performed to test the hypothesis that diagnostic errors would increase over the course of the day.
Results: Workload _normalized (median of 121%, interquartile range: 71 to 146%) on the days the diagnostic errors were made was significantly higher than 100% (P = 0.014). There was no significant upward trend in the frequency of diagnostic errors over the course of the day (Mann-Kendall tau = 0.05, P = 0.7294).
Conclusion: Work overload seems to be associated with diagnostic errors on ¹⁸ F-FDG-PET/CT. Diagnostic errors were encountered throughout the entire working day, without any upward trend towards the end of the day.
(© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)