The use of testing (CT scans and ultrasound) helps surgeons to determine if a patient has appendicitis so that the misdiagnosis of appendicitis (when a patient is thought to have appendicitis, undergoes an appendectomy, and no appendicitis is found -- which happens to between 15-20% of patients undergoing an appendectomy) can be avoided as much as possible. SCOAP hospitals are monitoring how often the misdiagnosis of appendicitis occurs.
Some hospitals that are more successful at this have dedicated teams of radiologists who conduct such tests and control the quality of the tests through protocols. Some SCOAP hospitals that are underperforming on this care measure are working to improve this care measure by changing their protocols to get more accurate testing.
What can you do about this?
Ask your physician, surgeon and nurse about their use of these tests and ask how often misdiagnosis of appendicitis is occurring at that hospital. Ask about their SCOAP report regarding misdiagnosis so that they know you care!