Time-of-day effects on mammographic film reading performance

Helen C. Cowley; Alastair G. Gale

doi:10.1117/12.271295

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16 April 1997 Time-of-day effects on mammographic film reading performance

Helen C. Cowley, Alastair G. Gale

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Proceedings Volume 3036, Medical Imaging 1997: Image Perception; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.271295
Event: Medical Imaging 1997, 1997, Newport Beach, CA, United States

Abstract

In a wide variety of domains it has been found that an individual's performance can vary throughout the day. The time of day at which a radiologist reads mammographic films could therefore have an effect on their breast screening performance. A national self-assessment scheme that provides some insight into radiologists' breast screening skills has been operating for a number of years in the UK. Data from this scheme were assessed in terms of; the time of day that the radiologists read the mammographic film set, the time taken to complete the scheme, any performance variation during the time taken to complete the scheme and the variation in performance in comparison with the time of day that the radiologist usually diagnoses mammograms. Results suggest that there are no significant circadian variations in performance, but that performance does decrease after 70 or 80 minutes of screening.

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Helen C. Cowley and Alastair G. Gale "Time-of-day effects on mammographic film reading performance", Proc. SPIE 3036, Medical Imaging 1997: Image Perception, (16 April 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.271295

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