A new survey by PACS firm Sectra found several ways of increasing efficiency by improving both how radiology studies are ordered and how results are communicated.
The main points? Radiologists should include both images and the radiation dose in their reports, the company said.
In the report, 78 referring physicians and 78 radiologists shared their views on the process of ordering studies and communicating results.
The need for better communication was considered important by both radiologists and referring physicians, but their views differed somewhat in that referring physicians saw the ordering of studies and communication of results as a bigger challenge than radiologists, Sectra said.
The report recommends:
- Implementing decision support to increase the quality of the requests
- Increasing transparency regarding report turnaround times
- Making reports clearer by including images
- Improving the communication of critical results
- Implementing a portal for easier scheduling
- Making radiation dose information visible in both the requests and the report
