Anesthesia & Clinical Research
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-6148
ISSN: 2155-6148
Mazuin Abu Talib
Northumbria Specialist Care Emergency Hospital, UK
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Anesth Clin Res
Introduction & Aim: Tertiary trauma centres have radiology reporting services provided by in house
radiologists overnight. Some district general hospitals have the use of a remote reporting services provided
by Nighthawk for out of hour emergency scans. The practice, however, is to delay overnight scans until the
hospital radiologists are available during office hours, with Nighthawk being perceived as providing reports
that are less accurate as well as involving higher costs. The volume of patients who are critically ill and need
surgical intervention overnight is ever increasing across the board in the NHS. However, the evidence
supporting the role of Nighthawk reporting out of hours in a district general hospital remains low and use of
Nighthawk services especially overnight is discouraged. We hypothesize that Nighthawk reporting services
have a role in the emergency setting in a district general hospital in providing safe care to patients.
Method: A retrospective review of OOH CT scans done by Nighthawk at a single institution was carried
out over a 12-month period. Data was collated from Radiology Department, ICE and TrakCare reporting
systems.
Results: A total of 900 CT scans were requested out of hours in a period of 12 months; 129 CT scans of
abdomen/pelvis, 9 CT angiograms, 450 CT heads and 312 CT trauma protocol. 24 CT abdomen/pelvis
scans were normal, 140 were pathological. The pathological CT scans reported 33 viscus perforations, 15
intra-abdominal collections, 15 bowel obstructions, 9 ischemic bowel, 6 complicated pancreatitis, 6 renal
obstructions, 6 femoral pseudoanuerysms, 6 appendicitis, 6 severe cholecystitis and 3 traumatic splenic
lacerations. 57 of 129 CT abdomen/pelvis scans confirmed the clinical diagnosis, 72 reported alternate
diagnosis. 30 patients with pathological CT scans were operated overnight, 9 were transferred to tertiary
centre for definitive management. Median time delay between presentation to CT request being made was 180
minutes. Median time delay between CT request and CT done was 60 minutes. Median time delay between
completion of CT scan and report available was 45 minutes.
Conclusion: Nighthawk is shown to improve patient outcomes and has a clear role in the emergency setting
in reducing delay in diagnosis and treatment.
Mazuin Abu Talib is a UK surgical trainee with an interest in colorectal surgery and cancer resections. She graduated from Newcastle University in 2010 while on a government scholarship from Malaysia. She holds MRCS and a Masters in Clinical Education. Mazuin is a keen runner and fundraiser for various charities including Christie’s, MuslimHands, Graham Wylie Foundation, and RMBF.