The reporting radiographer role was initially developed to support the more timely provision of imaging reports to optimize the diagnosis and management of diseases and conditions and to protect patient safety by minimizing the risk of adverse events associated with delays in treatment. There have been reported deficiencies in timely image interpretation in Saudi Arabia, primarily due to insufficient numbers of trained radiologists and other image interpretation specialists, which may negatively affect patient care. The present review aimed at providing the background rationale for an area of practice change in Saudi Arabia, which is the implementation of a reporting radiographer role. An electronic literature search was conducted from 2005 to 2021 on the MEDLINE database for relevant research discovered using keywords such as Implementation, Reporting, Radiographer, Role, reporting service, and Saudi Arabia. On Google Scholar, similar keywords were used to search for and discover comparable papers. The articles were picked using specific inclusion criteria. The studies in this review were published between 2002 and 2022. This work has provided an overview of the evidence base about the utility of reporting radiographers as a rationale for the discussed change process - to implement a reporting radiographer role in Saudi Arabian hospitals. Several change management considerations have been discussed to affect this process, including the internal and external drivers of change, stakeholder and force field analysis, and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, supported by Lewin’s change model and the National Health Service Sustainability model. Finally, the reflective component identified the key learning points for planning and implementing change, which will be used in the authors’ future practice to support other change initiatives.
Key words: Implementation, reporting, radiographer, role, reporting service, Saudi Arabia.
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