Is film-reading performance related to the number of films read? The Scottish experience

Abstract

Aim: To determine whether a drop-off in reading performance occurred with high-volume caseloads in Scotland.

Materials and methods: The reading performance figures for all eligible film readers over a 36 month period were reviewed to determine the number of films read as first and second reader, the recall rates, the cancers detected, and the cancers missed by each reader.

Results: During the 3 year period, screen-reading volumes varied from 7009 to 53,598. There were six low-volume readers, 16 medium-volume readers, and 15 high-volume readers (>25,000 cases in the 3 year period). No statistically significant differences were found in the first read specificity or the recall rate between the three groups.

Conclusion: The present results do not support the suggestion that reading performance drops off with a three year case volume of greater than 25,000 reads.