THE IMAGING PRACTICE
Founded in 1992, Northern California PET Imaging Center (NCPIC) was the first outpatient, non-academic PET center in the United States. Since then, NCPIC has continued to be at the forefront of molecular imaging technology and innovation, publishing the first article on lung cancer in over 100 patients, bringing the first whole-body PET scanner and the first mobile multi-slice PET/CT unit to Northern California. Now, NCPIC provides imaging services to patients at five locations across the Northern California area.
THE PROBLEM
NCPIC was using an aging and intricate system that required several workarounds to function in the way that the imaging team desired. The reporting solution being used by NCPIC was causing a 2-part inefficiency.
Firstly, radiologists were having to leave their reporting software to open a separate voice-recognition-enabled word document, dictate the report, and then copy and paste the report back into the reporting solution. Secondly, voice recognition errors occurred frequently during the interpretation of exams, causing a loss in productivity for both the radiologists and the office manager. The radiologists were spending extra time attempting to correct VR errors as they occurred while the office manager was having to manually review each report.
The Solution Needed to...
BE EASY TO CUSTOMIZE
so NCPIC could keep their current workflow and limit complications during a transition
HAVE ACCURATE VOICE VR
to eliminate the need for an additional review of each report
HAVE A FULL REPORTING WORKFLOW
so radiologists can interpret and complete reports in one program
In addition, both the reporting and front-end solutions were considered “fragile” by the imaging staff, meaning that even the smallest deviations from the established procedure would create problems requiring time-consuming troubleshooting.
NCPIC sought to replace their current system with a stable RIS and reporting solution that was accurate, highly customizable, and would require minimal change to their workflow in order to facilitate a seamless transition.
“Radiologists were having to…open a separate voice-recognition…document, dictate the report, and then copy and paste the report back into the reporting solution.”
THE SOLUTION
medQ is the creator of the Q/ris 3000 Enterprise Imaging Workflow™, a highly automated, customizable workflow solution that allows imaging teams to consolidate healthcare systems, streamline processes, and achieve higher levels of productivity.
A medQ workflow automation specialist and the staff at NCPIC jointly analyzed their current workflow and technology, comparing them to best practices at the time. Together, the workflow specialist and NCPIC selected the precise set of modules to form the “perfect-fit” workflow solution that would provide the flexibility and power necessary to bring a high level of automation to their workflow without compromising their highly customized and personal approach to patient care.
Weeks later, medQ, in partnership with the NCPIC team, implemented the Q/ris 3000 Order Entry, Tech Workflow, and Reporting PLUS+ modules.
- Order Entry™ automatically fills in the exam and patient information from orders sent from the center’s Patient Management System and makes that data available universally across the entire system.
- Tech Workflow™ auto-populates exam and patient information including the DICOM MWL. It allows technologists to attach e-worksheets to the PACS images and send DICOM structured data, procedural notes, and dosage notes directly to the radiology team’s reporting solution.
- Reporting PLUS+™ Serves as the radiologist’s complete reporting environment including a customizable universal worklist, radiologist-specific automation tools, and a highly advanced voice recognition engine.
THE RESULTS
12 months after the installation, it was observed that large productivity gains were achieved in the creation and distribution of radiology reports.
The accuracy of the VR provided by the Reporting PLUS+ solution eliminated the need for an additional exhaustive review of each report by a transcriptionist. This saved the team approximately 1.5 hours per day.
Reporting PLUS+ featured all of the tools the radiologist needed to complete a report in a single place, therefore radiologists were able to complete reports without switching windows or programs. This, combined with the improved VR accuracy, resulted in a 25% reduction in the amount of time it takes radiologists to dictate exams and create final reports.
