ACCESS quick notes for participants

Notes & hints to help you with scan reading for the ACCESS study.

Optimize your viewing environment

• Ensure the lights in your room are switched off or are very dim
• Use a SMPTE test image to optimize your computer screen
  • Adjust the screen brightness & contrast so that you can see BOTH the 0% / 5% box AND the 95% / 100% box
  • If you cannot see BOTH the boxes, you should use a different computer screen

Change image / text size

• Increase image / text size using  "ctrl+" on your keyboard
• Decrease image / text size using "ctrl-" on your keyboard
• The horizontal bar separating images from questionnaire can be moved up & down with your mouse so that you can see more or less of the panels
• F11 increases overall screen size by hiding navigation bars; toggling F11 again brings them back

Navigation

• "Joblist" is where you will find your list of scans to review
• We deliver the scans in batches of about 10 at a time
• When you have finished one batch, the next batch will become available
• Each scan requires answering up to 20 questions (the number varies depending on your answers)
• When you have answered the last question (which will always be "question 20"), review your answer selection & scroll to the bottom of the screen to click "finish"

Feedback

• When you have completed scan questionnaires, you can review feedback
• Feedback allows you to compare your answers to:
  • follow-up imaging where it's available
  • a "Gold Standard" - a single, expert Neuroradiologist who went through the questionnaire blinded to outcome & follow-up
    • the "Gold Standard" may have given answers which are not consistent with the follow-up imaging
    • this is because the "Gold Standard" readings represent real life scan reading rather than a biased retrospective assessment
  • an "expert panel" - five experts in stroke CT review
    • the "expert panel" does not always agree!
    • again, this is because the "expert panel" readings represent real life scan reading, in which there can be disagreement
  • specialty responses
    • the fractions of specialists (e.g. Neuroradiologists vs General Radiologists vs Stroke Physicians) answering a question one way or another
    • this information should allow you to compare your responses with those of similar training, & with those who have different backgrounds

Quick Links

• Register to participate & train with ACCESS here.
• Take the BASP CT Training Lecture beforehand here.
• Integrate imaging training with STARS Thrombolysis Masterclass
• The short url for the ACCESS webpage is: www.ed.ac.uk/edinburgh-imaging/access

Back to the ACCESS homepage