Radiology department workflow how to#

This lack of integration causes workflow problems not only for point-of-care clinicians, but radiology professionals as well. Historically, radiology images have been stored in proprietary PACS and largely disconnected from patient records in EHR systems. Radiology images are often unconnected to other systems.They will come from the nurses and technicians that work on these pieces of equipment every day. Good ideas on maximizing scanner throughput usually wonвЂ™t come from senior management. Sometimes that means extending hours into the evening or on Saturday and Sunday.вЂќДЄnother key to addressing volume variability is to get frontline staff involved in the workflow optimization process. вЂњIf we start to see an increased demand, we flex our staff to address those needs. вЂњFor example, every Monday our radiology department at AU Medical Center reviews the outpatient appointment schedules for all imaging to be performed at the hospital,вЂќ says Dr. There are several steps you can take to ensure you can adjust to volume variability. Miscalculations in this area can impede workflow. This variation makes balancing your capacity and your staffing-to-patient needs very difficult. The volume of radiology procedures and their corresponding complexity vary from day to day and hour to hour. Radiology volume is variable and unpredictable.This again requires communication between the radiology department and hospital management and establishing some standardized reporting metrics for things like volume, throughput and capacity. The key is to balance workflow optimization in both of these areas. Conversely, if you optimize the throughput of the health system to scan patients, but donвЂ™t equip the radiologist to read these incoming scans any faster, then youвЂ™ll have clinicians and patients waiting for the results.вЂќ вЂњFor example, if you maximize the productivity and efficiency with which the radiologist can interpret scans, but havenвЂ™t changed the capacity of the health system to scan more patients, you may still have backlogs and patients waiting to be scanned. вЂњIf you optimize workflow in one of these areas, but not the other, then you really havenвЂ™t optimized the workflow at all,вЂќ says Dr. X-Ray, CT, MRI machines, etc.) in the most expedient manner possible. The nursesвЂ™/technologistsвЂ™ workflow, on the other hand, is all about getting patients scanned on imaging equipment (e.g. It also includes the workflow in rooms where the radiologists perform procedures such as angiographies and biopsies. The radiologistsвЂ™ workflow consists of interpreting image scans using a worklist, PACS workstation or similar image reading tools. Radiology has two different workflows to optimize.ДЄnother workflow challenge unique to the specialty is that radiology departments actually have two separate workflows that they need to optimize вЂ“ the radiologistsвЂ™ workflow and the workflow of nurses and/or technologists.Establishing workflows designed to keep all of these customers happy requires open lines of communication between the radiology department and each of these stakeholders as well as agreed upon performance metrics. Furthermore, they need to do all this within the tight budgetary constraints of the hospitals in which they are employed. Radiology departments not only need to meet the needs of patients and referring physicians, they also need to satisfy the production and volume requirements of other hospital departments (such as the ER). Perhaps the biggest challenge to optimizing radiology workflow is the fact that the department has so many customers to serve. Radiology has multiple customers to serve.By identifying and addressing the challenges that are inherent to the specialty, you can measurably improve workflow and performance. James Rawson, Chair of Radiology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University outlines the following five areas as common radiology workflow pitfalls. Radiology is a complex environment with several points of potential workflow failure. Unfortunately, this is often easier said than done. Ensuring radiology workflow is as streamlined as possible is crucial to the overall operation of the health system. An inefficient radiology workflow not only negatively effects the performance and productivity of radiology staff, it has a trickle-down effect that impacts other departments, onsite and referring clinicians, and ultimately the patients and their families. However, there are few areas where a broken workflow will impact the health system more than in radiology. Having an efficient workflow is vital for any healthcare department.

Radiology department workflow how to#

Learn how to identify them and address them head on. These five challenges can cripple the productivity and effectiveness of a radiology department. 5 Radiology Workflow Roadblocks (And How to Navigate Them) Blog: Kofax - Smart Process automation