With a mix of social engineering and Web-based dashboard management, the radiology department at the University of Maryland Medical System has reduced overall report verification times for its radiologists.
With a mix of social engineering and Web-based dashboard management, the radiology department at the University of Maryland Medical System has reduced overall report verification times for its radiologists.
Even before a report sign-off management system had been implemented, turnaround times decreased as news spread through the department that performance would be monitored, said Paul G. Nagy, Ph.D., an assistant professor of radiology at Maryland.
After two weeks of implementation, the system had reduced report verification times from 32.9 hours to 11.8 hours.
Speech recognition has been touted as a way to improve report turnaround, but it's not for everybody, Nagy said.
Rather than wait for speech recognition to improve, the department chose to optimize its current report workflow, he said during a scientific session at the RSNA meeting. To reduce both verification time for report sign-off and fatigue levels in radiologists, the department developed an in-house system for workflow data management.
The program was developed in the Python programming language. It logs on to the department's RIS four times daily and twice during the weekends to pull all unsigned summary reports. The appropriate radiologists are then paged and e-mailed to notify them that a report is awaiting their sign-off.
When the system was first announced, some radiologists expressed concern that it would represent Big Brother watching over their every move, according to Nagy. But the group developed a metric that, when represented as a cumulative Pareto, would focus on the few laggards responsible for the bulk of the delays.
"It's the law of Pareto - 80% of the problem comes from 20% of people," Nagy said.
After a few weeks, the physicians became reliant on the tool to alert them to reports that needed their attention. They admitted to liking the tool and noted that it was far less intrusive than speech recognition, according to Nagy.
The system has now been in place for over nine months. While there has been some drift in the verification time reduction, turnaround still averages about 16.4 hours, half of what it had been.
For more online information, visit Diagnostic Imaging's RSNA Webcast.
New AI-Powered Ultrasound Devices May Enhance Efficiency in Women's Imaging
April 19th 2024One of the features on the new Voluson Signature 20 and 18 ultrasound devices reportedly uses automated AI tools to facilitate a 40 percent reduction in the time it takes to perform second trimester exams.
FDA Approves Fluorescence Imaging System for Detecting Residual Breast Cancer
April 18th 2024The combination of the optical imaging agent Lumisight and the fluorescence imaging device Lumicell Direct Visualization System, collectively known as LumiSystem, reportedly offers 84 percent accuracy with real-time detection of residual breast cancer after lumpectomy procedures.
Study of Ofatumumab for Multiple Sclerosis Shows 'Profoundly Suppressed MRI Lesion Activity'
April 17th 2024The use of continuous ofatumumab in patients within three years of a relapsing multiple sclerosis diagnosis led to substantial reductions in associated lesions on brain MRI scans, according to research recently presented at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) conference.