Teleradiology Services – Page 2

PACS: Diminishing the Distance and Enabling the Real-Time Services in Teleradiology

The pandemic time has unveiled a plethora of opportunities and brought in a paradigm shift in work culture – Remote Working, driven by technology. This has enabled the continuation of services irrespective of location and time without compromising the quality-of-service delivery. But this remote working is not a new concept in Radiology. Many radiologists have been supporting the clinicians irrespective of their location and time through teleradiology and delivering quality patient care without delay.

Teleradiology, identified with remote working is actually vibrant, spontaneous, and into real-time work. All this is possible because of PACS.

PACS – Picture Archiving and Communication System; a system involved in acquiring the medical images, transmission, viewing, storage, and retrieval of same images. Basically, PACS is an electronic version of the file room and reading room for radiologists. PACS works as a host that integrates the radiological images acquired from different radiological imaging modalities (X-Ray, Ultrasound, CT, MRI, PET Scan, Nuclear Medicine, etc…) with a network of information system (RIS and or HIS), EMR, different work stations and image storage/archival system.

Since 1980, PACS has undergone many transformations in multiple ways. All these have been worked out to improve – the transmission of images without any compromise on its quality, archiving and retrieving of data (images and other information) for reference without any delay, communication between the referring Physician, and reporting radiologist. The fundamental parts of PACS are – imaging acquisition, display workstations, archive servers. The workflow is customized based on the modality of images and criticality of the cases marked in the raised work orders

Today, the Web-based PACS offers many additional features like AI-Assisted Decision Support systems, Multi-Media Enhanced Reporting (MMER), an intuitive user interface, intelligent work aids (personalized tools and layout), mobile extensions, multimedia communication tools, etc that boost reading/reporting, making it a smart PACS. It is a coordinator between multiple processes (software & hardware) and applications enabling the image reporting as a real-time service supporting referring physicians.

The benefit of all these features has resulted in reduced TAT, improved productivity of department, better management of emergency / critical cases, and maintenance of data security. It also enables the viewing of images for reporting from anywhere – inside the department or at the nursing station or on mobile gadgets (mobile/notepads/laptops) or remote reporting sites (Teleradiology).

PACS infrastructure is evolving with advancements in medical imaging technologies and it is highly scalable to keep up the pace with the increasing number of imaging and reporting. This scalability can involve – the addition of more no. of imaging modalities, storage space, no. of work stations, integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning or any other features.

PACS in Hospitals / Tele-reporting service providers with different modalities and multiple work stations use Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA) which brings about compatibility between the different software of imaging machines and PACS’ networking. VNA ensures seamless functioning of data receiving, transmission, integration, and archival and saves time by providing one viewing experience/interface irrespective of the origin of data acquisition.

Cloudex Solutions: extending teleradiology with cloud-based PACS

Cloudex has set its tele-reporting infrastructure with the advanced smart PACS that provides a convenient workflow and easy-to-use interfaces/dashboard. These advanced online PACS is capable of handling multiple modalities and multiple workstations providing the browser as the main viewing tool enhancing the faster TAT.

The teleradiologists login into the browser and start with the flexibility of time ensuring the tele-reporting services for 24x 7 x 365. Now hospitals / diagnostic centers have the advantage of need-based tele-reporting depending on the imaging modality/subspecialty/timing (full time or night hawk services) instead of traditional reporting apart without a huge investment in digitalized workflow and storage. The experience of the PACS administrator adds a lot of value especially in critically marked/emergency cases apart from their regular maintaining or managing or troubleshooting roles.

Cloudex with its flexibility in working and range of tele-reporting services aims to support its clients (healthcare service providers) in overcoming obstacles faced while delivering patient care and have a winning edge towards patient satisfaction.

At Cloudex, we support you to have that winning edge.

Teleradiology Enhancing The Patient Satisfaction and Quicker TAT for Referring Physician

Once upon a time, teleradiology was considered as a fragmented and interrupted experience where the images, texts, and speeches were getting delivered on a different medium. And the poor communication between the referring physician and teleradiologist might have resulted in confusion in the patient’s mind or the high cost or undesirable clinical outcomes.

Currently, technological advances have revolutionized the way teleradiology is conducted and are contributing to quality healthcare service delivery. Today, teleradiology represents the integration of the many advanced multimedia technologies which supports the upload/download of reports along with other necessary support documents (other than radiological images), display of images (multiple viewing/screening options), tools for image annotation, image/report archival and retrieval, communication between the group/team, audio reporting and its conversion into text report are some of the important features facilitating the remote reporting equivalent to real-time reporting.

At present, Teleradiology addresses the key concern of the referring physician – accurate report at the earliest with the provision of communicating with teleradiologists in real-time.

These concerns get addressed and benefit him in multiple ways.

Benefit of Support from the extended team during the deciding moments becomes crucial for those who are based in healthcare centers where the radiology department works in stipulated working hours or patients are referred to other centers for radiology services. In such a scenario, the treating physician is benefitted by receiving accurate reports within the decided TAT and can interact with the teleradiologist for further clarification. Overall, the referring physician has an extended team outside his team (employed/assigned team) to support him in providing quality patient care and on whom he can rely during his crucial deciding moments.
Benefit of 24 x 7 Reporting services empowers the referring physician in providing quality patient care round the clock without any delay. This benefits the physician as well as the patient in saving the time and cost, the shift of patient to emergency service and unexpected situation.
Benefit of Expert Opinion when an ambiguous situation. A qualified and expert panel of subspecialists can support the referring physician in more than one way – correct diagnosis, prognosis, and working out the appropriate treatment plan or in understanding/monitoring the treatment outcome. This works wonders for the multispecialty hospitals who need the subspecialty reporting and expert opinions for critical cases additional to their regular radiologist’s reporting; especially in cases of Orthopaedic, Neurology, Oncology, Paediatric or Emergency to name a few.
Benefit of Remote Reporting has brought about a paradigm shift in the quality of patient care extended in primary or secondary care centers located in tier 2 / 3 towns or geographically challenging locations. Teleradiology has built a connection where referring physicians can interact with the reporting teleradiologist in real-time. As a result, Referring Physician can inform the patient about the criticality of the patient in emergency cases and guide the patient in taking appropriate action or referring a patient to comprehensive healthcare centers at right time.
Benefit of Selective Reporting services is an option where the referring physician can choose from different types of teleporting services based on the need; like during the absence of regular radiologists due to holiday/weekend / off-duty / night-time. The different services available to opt for are night call reporting, weekend reporting, overload reporting, vacation reporting. All these selective options are available to ensure patient care without any delay.
Benefit of Answers to the queries of Patient which helps in building trust. Many times, the internet-savvy patient from the metro and tier 1 town throws a series of queries for a better understanding of the situation and for taking appropriate action (shift to a specialty center for surgery/treatment). The patient’s interaction with the reporting teleradiologist who has given the detailed imaging report helps in briefing those critical characteristics playing a crucial role in prognosis. The building of trust depends on many aspects and this can prove to be one of the ways.

Cloudex Radiology Solutions empowers the Referring Physician with a winning edge…

Cloudex teleradiology services empowered with its qualified & experienced experts and subspecialty teleradiologist extends the benefits of technologically advanced infrastructure (RIS-PACS) supported with interactive multimedia components, advanced visualization, and communications (voice message/text/messenger app-based communication, etc.). All these features help in low TAT, quality reporting, and increase the Physician’s satisfaction and confidence with service resulting in the effective clinical outcome – patient care. In today’s competitive world where the patient is ready to go extra mile for better information, better patient care, better treatment option; Teleradiology empowers the referring physician with that winning edge.

At Cloudex, we support you to have that winning edge.

Teleradiology Reporting Services: Do You Really Need It? This Article Will Help You

The ever-evolving medical world keeps bringing out solutions to the challenges posed by the fast pace populace. Radiology is keeping pace with modernity and has very well integrated technology and telecommunication to formulate a remote mode of extending services – Teleradiology.

Today, Teleradiology has enabled the clinician in providing the best of patient care and saving lives and thus becoming an indispensable healthcare service. Teleradiology supports the clinicians/hospitals/healthcare service providers with many solutions, compensating the shortage of radiologists and reporting for all imaging modalities – X-Ray, Ultrasound scan, CT scan, MRI Scan, PET scan, Nuclear Medicine, Interventional imaging.

1. Round-the-clock Reporting service supports the healthcare service providers with radiology services round the clock for all days irrespective of no. of radiologists on-site or subspecialty reporting requirement.

The defined reporting TAT ensures a quick TAT of as early as 30 to 60 minutes for all modalities of imaging both in cases of emergency and regular cases. In this competitive and fast-paced environment, Teleradiology enables hospitals from remotest places to small or mid-size hospitals to provide patient care effectively irrespective of time.

2. Nighthawk Reporting services work out as an ideal option for many healthcare service providers who cannot afford to recruit a radiologist beyond regular working hours and get benefitted from after-hour radiology services.

Nighthawk reporting allows the radiology department to exhibit its duty of quality reporting without any delay. This late-night radiology coverage empowers the hospitals in extending patient care to a high level with better outcomes, and in a bigger perspective improves the face-value and bottom-line score of Hospitals.

3. Subspecialty Reporting services help in identifying the subspecialty pathologies apart from identifying the common findings, normal variants quickly. The accuracy of reporting and detailed interpretation of the images (expertise in particular anatomy or type of reports/modality) improves the prognosis by facilitating the early diagnosis and proper treatment planning. Subspecialty reporting adds value eliminating the need for a second opinion; and improves the productivity and reporting TATs also.

Subspecialty reporting can be categorized into the following specialty –

· Thoracic Imaging

· Breast Imaging

· Cardiac Imaging

· Abdominal Imaging

· Musculoskeletal Imaging

· Neuroradiology

· Neuro-interventional Radiology

· Vascular Interventional Radiology

· Emergency Radiology

· Pediatric Radiology

· Nuclear Medicine

4. Emergency Reporting services ensures the early intervention and initiation of required action for emergency case. The involvement of expert radiologists reduces the TAT duration and contributes to the immediate diagnosis of acute conditions and patient care.

5. Weekend / Holiday Reporting services ensure the regular radiologists are able to utilize their break productively and return to job energized without any of the radiology reporting being stalked/trailed at the health center.

6. Second Opinion Reporting service is access to expertise for getting detailed imaging reports to facilitate a better understanding of the situation or decide on the course of treatment or to understand the progression of disease or treatment outcome. Experts are able to contribute through their experience and make a value-added difference to disease management/treatment.

7. Access to Radiology by healthcare centers present at geographically challenged areas either by altitude or distance. Primary or secondary healthcare centers have benefited from teleradiology which diminished the need for on-site radiologists and have benefitted from subspecialty reporting too. This has improved patient care services through quality and timing.

Benefits of Teleradiology reporting:

· Availability of radiology services round the clock (24 x 7 x 365) including night-time and on weekends/holidays

· Access to subspecialty radiologist’s reporting

· No backlog/delay in imaging reports delivery (improved TAT)

· High-quality patient care without delay

· Reports checked by more than one radiologist (preliminary/final reads)

· Better time management of radiologists due to login enabled cloud-based system (saves on commuting)

· Software enabled workflow helps in timely delivery of reports

Cloudex Radiology Solutions offers a plethora of Teleradiology Services:

The team of experienced, expert and qualified radiologists at Cloudex’s panel extend teleradiology services encompassing all type of reporting services to fulfill the growing demand of radiology services of health providers by defying the distances and time zone. The quick TAT, accuracy, standardized report protocol, coordination network between the reporting radiologists, clinician/surgeon/technician, and administrator contributes to the delivery of services benefitting the hospital and patient.