Radiologists, referrers prefer switch to subspecialized reporting system over modality-based scheme
Reorganizing a radiology network from modality- to subspeciality-based reporting significantly improves imaging reports and healthcare workers’ overall satisfaction.
Back in January 2018, a Swiss health system with nine hospital-affiliated radiology sites retooled its workflow to create a centralized reporting network. The restructuring also created organ-based radiology teams, and most rads were relocated from satellite facilities to the main hospital.
The thinking was that consolidated reporting would make life easier for imaging team members as well as referring physicians. After sending out 400 questionnaires to assess the project, researchers found that more than 95% of rads preferred the update.
Referring physicians also logged higher levels of satisfaction with reporting mechanisms post-implementation, particularly those working in the main hospital (94.3% after vs. 84.9% before), the authors wrote in the Journal of the Belgian Society of Radiology.
“It is possible that referring physicians of larger centers may have different expectations of radiological reports and therefore require more precise reports, generally asking more specific or complex questions that a system change to subspecialized radiology may be able to answer better,” wrote Andreas Zabel and colleagues with Kantonsspital St. Gallen—the sixth largest hospital in Switzerland serving nearly 1 million people.
The team sent 56 surveys to radiologists, 78 to rad technologists, 178 to referrers at the main hospital and 98 to referring providers at the nine affiliated hospitals. Below are additional results from the study.
- All groups said the quality of radiology reports improved under the subspecialized system, particularly radiologists (91% before vs. 98% after) and referrers at the flagship hospital (73% before vs. 92% after).
- More than 65% of rads said they felt more confident in their reports.
- Both radiologists and technologists agreed their productivity and efficiency increased using subspecialized reporting.
- Referring physicians in both categories agreed that radiology turnaround times improved under the new structure.
Read the entire study here.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.