Is Prescription of Knee Mri According to Standard Clinical Guideline?

Abstract

Introduction: Knee pain is one of the most common complaints that caused patients visit their physician. Among all medical imaging technologies; using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is significant. The aim of this study was to determine the appropriateness of knee MRI prescription in Sabzevar Vasei hospital in 2014. Materials and methods: This study is descriptive and analytic, while the statistical population included 115 patients referred to MRI Unit in Sabzevar Vasei hospital, while they were selected randomly. A questionnaire was used for data collection and to determine the appropriateness of prescription; a local clinical guideline was used as well. Data analysis was done by using SPSS16, descriptive statistics, Spearman test, Pearson chi-square and Fisher exact tests. Results: Among 115 prescribed knee MRI patients, 52 prescriptions (45.2) were inappropriate, 2 prescriptions (1.7) were uncertain and 61 prescriptions (53) were considered appropriate. The financial burden arising from inappropriate prescriptions was 39204000 Rials. Besides, there is a significant difference between the appropriate prescriptions and patients' gender, occupation, education, the specialty of a prescriber physician as well as referral institution (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Considering the high rate of inappropriate prescriptions, it is essential to find some reasons and to do continuous monitoring. The use of local clinical guidelines can improve the quality of the health system and avoid additional costs.