To make a preliminary survey on department of ultrasound in various hospitals and probe into the major problems faced by ultrasonic quality management.

For ultrasound departments of various types at various levels, the Ultrasonic Medical Quality Control Center of Liaoning Province has issued ultrasonic quality baseline survey forms in March 2021. The investigation period was from January 1 to December 31, 2020. The contents included general information of sonographers, examining items conducted, the average number of ultrasound examinations per year, the ratio of the number of sonographers to the number of diagnostic equipment, ultrasound appointment time for an inpatient examination, the number of critical value report, the positive rate of ultrasonic report, the coincidence rate of ultrasound diagnosis, etc. The ultrasonic quality control indicators in hospitals of different levels were compared by chi-square test or one-way ANOVA.

The questionnaires were returned from 141 hospitals in 14 prefecture-level cities in Liaoning Province, including 48 tertiary grade A hospitals, 20 tertiary grade B hospitals, 42 secondary grade A hospitals, 5 secondary grade B hospitals, and 26 other hospitals. There existed a significant difference in the average number of sonographers and their age (＞45 years old), titles (senior and junior titles), and education background in hospitals at different levels (P＜0.05). The differences in the ultrasound examination number of outpatients, emergency room visits, physical examinations, and inpatient numbers at various levels of hospitals were statistically significant (P＜0.05). The number of examinations performed is highest in tertiary grade A hospitals and lowest in secondary grade B hospitals. Besides, hospitals at all levels showed a significant differences in the average ultrasound appointment time for inpatients (P＜0.05). Among the quality control indicators of ultrasound examination, the difference in the positive rate of ultrasound reports in hospitals at various levels was statistically significant (P＜0.05), with the positive rate of ultrasound reports in tertiary grade A hospitals being the highest [(78.3±23.6)%]; in terms of the coincidence rate of ultrasound diagnosis among hospitals at various levels, the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). The coincidence rate of ultrasound diagnosis in secondary grade B hospitals [(65.6±11.2)%] was significantly lower than those of other hospitals.

There are obvious differences in many quality control indicators in the ultrasound department of hospitals at various levels in Liaoning Province. The Ultrasonic Medical Quality Control Center should formulate relevant quality control policies and carry out relevant quality control work based on the baseline survey results, so as to facilitate the normalization, standardization, and homogenization of ultrasound diagnosis and treatment in Liaoning Province.