Whitney Palmer

Mobile Computing in Radiology: the Challenges and Benefits

Published on the Feb. 12, 2013, Diagnostic Imaging website

By Whitney L.J. Howell

Hospitals and physician practices are full of electronic sounds. The whir and clunks of imaging equipment. The quiet hum of patient monitors. The background buzz of computers. In recent years, though, a new sound has become ubiquitous: the ding of the text message or mobile email. Smart device technology has come, full-throttle, to radiology.

More than 80 percent of physicians own and use mobile devices, according to recent surveys, and, a 2011 Jackson & Coker Associates study reported nearly 25 percent of radiologists were already using them clinically. That number has only grown in the past two years, said Jon DeVries, vice president of product solutions at Merge Healthcare.

“At any industry event or session, every single radiologist comes in with some sort of handheld device. Every single one of them is using mobile technology to some extent. It’s a massive trend,” he said. “It’s changing the way people practice. Diagnostics are still done at work stations, but it’s changed how they collaborate, form partnerships, and provide care.”

A Culture Shift

Radiology has always been the early adopter of technology in health care. But, even among this forward-thinking specialty, introducing and incorporating mobile devices into everyday use required a cultural shift. The biggest factor, said Rasu Shrestha, MD, vice president of medical information technology at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC), has been provider age.

“One of the key things we’re seeing is an entirely new generation of clinicians that has always been used to technology, and they’re developing a level of comfort and acceptance of mobile devices in the industry,” he said. “Even other clinicians are getting accustomed to this notion of always being ‘on.’”

The ready-made access to colleagues that mobile devices provide has also helped nurture the spirit of collaboration within the specialty. As mobile devices and apps move from being novelties into mature technologies, Shrestha said, radiologists and other clinicians are more easily able to work together as a clinical care teams. Being mobile has gone from being trendy to being a necessity.

“A little more than a year ago, ‘apps’ and ‘mobile’ were buzzwords,” he said. “Now they’re accepted as part of workflow, and they’re well integrated.”

One of the greatest outcomes of increased provider comfort with mobile technology has been improved communication between provider and patient. Providers can now display images on a tablet for patients to see, and viewing the studies on a smaller, more familiar device — rather than a large, clinical screen — can be less intimidating for the patient.

Improving Communication

Perhaps the biggest way smartphone and mobile device technology has touched radiology is through enhanced provider communication, DeVries said. Whether it’s with critical care or emergency patients, mobile technology has streamlined the way radiologists and referring physicians discuss patient care.

“The big area where we see radiologists using smartphones and tablets is in the way they interact with colleagues,” he said. “These devices give them the freedom to get out of the reading room and out onto the floor so they can have face-to-face interactions with co-workers and patients. It’s enabled them to build better relationships.”

Mobile technology can even help you stay connected when you’re away from your hospital or practice. Various apps for the iPhone, Blackberry, or Android let you quickly look at scans so you can discharge patients or initially evaluate a trauma case. These apps aren’t intended to be used for true diagnostic reads, DeVries said, but they do keep the process of patient care flowing.

Herman Oosterwijk, president of Texas-based health care technology training and consulting firm Otech, agreed that mobile devices are the lynchpin of prompt communication and timely patient care. While reaction time to an email might be slow — often more than an hour — responses to text messages are frequently instantaneous.

“Texting and communication between smart devices is incredible,” he said. “People are always listening for that ‘beep’ or ‘ding-dong’ that alerts them that someone wants to tell them something.”

According to DeVries, Merge’s iConnect product offers you this kind of immediate access. The zero-client viewer can be launched through any electronic medical record system and can pull images from any PACS. Carestream’s Vue Motion software also offers similar capabilities, presenting you with patient information quickly to avoid any slow-down in care.

To read the remainder of the article at its original location: http://www.diagnosticimaging.com/practice-management/content/article/113619/2128049

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