Teleradiology has been around for years, but the recent pandemic has forced many imaging holdouts to make a quick move to remote reading. One such program tested this idea prior to the pandemic, leading to huge gains in productivity, high marks from clinicians, and a radiology department that was prepared for COVID-19.
St. Mary’s Hospital—part of the Imperial College National Health Services Trust in London—launched its pilot program in June 2019, employing an experienced, former in-hospital radiologist located in Sydney to interpret scans for the United Kingdom radiology department’s overnight hours.
During a four-week span, virtual reporting productivity increased by 140%, compared to the same number of in-hospital sessions completed prior to the intervention. Additionally, multidisciplinary team members who worked with the remote rad said service was “slightly” better than usual, according to the study published Wednesday in Clinical Radiology.
What’s more, the pilot’s early success allowed the hospital to set up remote reading capabilities for nearly all of its consultant rads by the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, wrote E. A. Dick, with the institution’s department of radiology, and colleagues.
“There has been a national realization across healthcare, as for other workplaces, that remote working is desirable for the duration of the pandemic and that remote working should be optimized to provide a service as good as that seen in traditional in-hospital Trust settings,” they added. “Additionally, there is a growing realization that working patterns will likely be permanently changed.”
And a number of other experts have drawn similar conclusions about remote interpretations. For example, Matthew Hayes, a PACS Manager at Radiology Partners—one of the largest private imaging providers in the U.S.—said last week that remote reading could become “a new normal.” Similarly, a study published by JACR at the height of the lockdown found that teleradiology adoption spiked during the pandemic, with many users seeing post-COVID benefits.
The U.K. hospital piloted its three-month quality improvement project starting in June 2019, using a radiologist with 17 years of experience to report on routine musculoskeletal CT and MRI scans. In addition to covering the overnight cases in the London imaging department, the doctor also checked after-hours on-call reports from radiology registrars.
Aside from the productivity increase, the necessary time for the consultant to authorize reports initially performed by registrars dropped by 40%. Acute and trauma staff also reported positive experiences working with the remote reader, as did trainees and registrars.
“In the COVID-19 era, remote working has developed rapidly,” the group wrote. “This study shows that radiology departments can provide remote reporting that is equal in standard to reporting from within the hospital…”
In this situation, the Australia-based radiologist had prior relationships with in-house U.K. staff, but the authors said that remote reporters need to work harder to maintain communication with clinicians, and such a setup should not be an excuse for them to “disappear into their reporting room forever.”
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.