Radiologists using a new reporting solution spent 44% less time generating prostate cancer screening reports compared to using traditional approaches and gave the system high marks for user satisfaction.
Physicians are wasting an ever-increasing amount of time searching through various systems and formats to produce reports with relevant clinical information. But Swiss experts found success unifying data entry with structured elements, known as synoptic reporting, to help streamline the process.
Pathologists, radiologists and urologists experienced a 91% drop in the time needed to collect and integrate patient information. Rads specifically spent 3.29 fewer minutes on reporting and produced more high-quality data parameters compared to using narrative techniques.
Christian Wetterauer, MD, with University Hospital Basel’s Institute of Urology, and co-authors believe synoptic reporting may be invaluable to care in the coming age of big data.
“The integration of clinical information from multiple sources is essential to understand the patient’s medical condition,” the authors wrote Aug. 31 in Oncology. “The alignment of medical reporting to data integration requirements can reduce physician’s effort to understand the patient’s medical condition and improve subsequent treatment decisions,” they added.
The researchers tested their system across 26 sessions, comparing time expended, data quality and user satisfaction for acquiring data, among other metrics.
Radiologists saved more time compared to pathologists, possibly due to the specialty’s longer report format, the authors explained. Other time savers included less effort formatting text, automatic dictation error corrections, automated calculations for prostate and tumor volumes in biopsies, and less time spent proofreading.
Compared to narrative reports, the novel method offered more complete, relevant, up-to-date and useful info, according to the physicians.
The researchers also see a valuable opportunity for synoptic reporting outside hospital and department walls.
“Patients face enormous challenges in capturing, understanding and acting on information from narrative reports,” the authors added. “Data elements prepared in an easily consumable format, without technical terms, could provide patients with valuable insights about their health status and help them take a more active and empowered role in their care.”
Read more from the analysis 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.