Whitney Palmer

Healthcare. Politics. Family.

Challenges in the Radiologist-Technologist Relationship

Published on the June 9, 2016, DiagnosticImaging.com website

By Whitney L.J. Howell

In radiology, there’s no more important – no closer relationship – than the one between the radiologist and the radiologic technologist (RT). You work together day-in and day-out, but there’s no guarantee that your partnership is as healthy as it should be.

According to industry experts, effective radiologist-RT work habits should share some of the same characteristics, enabling those pairs to provide quality patient care. But, radiology has changed drastically over the past 25 years, and stumbling blocks challenge how smoothly your daily interactions will be in today’s environment.

“I remember the days of film in the 1990s when technologists would come into the reading room and hang the film,” said Paul Nagy, PhD, associate professor of radiology and radiological sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “It was great because of the cross-section of interaction that happened when the radiologists looked at the film and gathered information from the tech for diagnostic purposes. But, there are several strains on the relationship today.”

There are strategies in place that are working to fortify the partnership, though, because this interaction is necessary to produce an actionable radiology report.

“The radiologist is very dependent upon the technologist to get the most information from patients,” said Michael Delvecchio, technical director of radiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “It helps them get better reads and provide a better diagnosis.”

To read the remainder of the article at its original location: http://www.diagnosticimaging.com/practice-management/challenges-radiologist-technologist-relationship

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June 9, 2016 Posted by | Healthcare | , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Renaissance of the RIS

Published on the Nov. 27, 2012, DiagnosticImaging.com website

By Whitney L.J. Howell

CHICAGO — For several years, radiology has largely considered RIS to be a technology that has reached its limits. But the light of development is once again shining on this workhorse tool. And, according to industry experts, even more advancements are coming.

“Today’s RIS doesn’t handle your advanced workflow well,” said Paul Nagy, PhD, director of quality in Johns Hopkins University’s radiology department. “But, there’s a renaissance of functionality coming for the RIS that wasn’t there before. An increasing number of vendors are beginning to develop new RIS systems.”

In the future, he said, your RIS will not only be able to handle advanced work flow, but it will also provide capabilities for peer review, second opinions, discrepancy reporting, and notifications for when patients return for follow-up visits.

The search function in your RIS will also likely improve. Currently, it can take up to 10 seconds for the system to retrieve requested work lists. Commercial vendors are now working to make data retrieval with your RIS even easier, he said.

“It will be Google meets the RIS,” Nagy said. “The ability will be to search quickly — instantly. It’s a great idea of indexing all this patient information and having the data at your fingertips. Such powerful search tools don’t exist in traditional RIS, but it’s coming and will spread throughout the industry.”

To read the remainder of the article at its original location: http://www.diagnosticimaging.com/conference-reports/rsna2012/content/article/113619/2116292

December 5, 2012 Posted by | Healthcare | , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

   

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