by
Gus Iversen, Editor in Chief | April 23, 2018
With any radiology practice, one thing is certain: maximum clinician efficiency and productivity translate to maximum profitability.
When radiologists are allowed to complete and pass along the many imaging reports they encounter each day with minimal interruption, distraction or delay, workflow is enhanced and profitability increased, always to the satisfaction of radiology managers.
Perhaps more important, minimizing interruptions logically minimizes physician errors, resulting in superior patient care and improved outcomes. When imaging reports are sent to referring physicians without delay, everyone wins.
Unfortunately, distractions remain very much a part of everyday life for many radiologists. While efforts have been made to streamline every aspect of a radiologist’s practice, shortcomings still remain.
The winds of change are blowing, however. Thanks to emerging app technology, at least one distraction may soon be a thing of the past: notification by telephone that reports are ready to be reviewed by referring physicians.
Through the years, radiology has led the way in workflow advancement. The specialty was among the first to adopt a digital work system, its technology outpaces many other specialties in sophistication and acuity, and the tests it provides in order to diagnose and treat disease and disability have expanded both in number and scope in recent decades.
Historically, a major workflow impediment has been telephone calls coming in to radiology reporting rooms, which interrupt the work of radiologists 90 percent of the time and may decrease reporting accuracy significantly, according to researchers. Each week,
radiologists field scores of calls in reporting rooms everywhere. Dr. Christopher Watura and his colleagues wrote in
Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology that fewer than one in 10 inbound calls are deemed appropriate interruptions to the workflow of radiologists who must field them, often while in the midst of important and even potentially lifesaving clinical work.
There’s another important interruption, however, one that is often overlooked: radiologists often must call referrers to notify them that a report has been completed. With each call comes a departure from work and the possibility that a radiologist will remain on hold until the referrer comes to the phone – and only if the clinician is reached and available. If they are not able to connect, it will mean yet another inbound return call to the radiologist.
