Most radiologist assistants (RAs) spend a significant amount of time each week performing patient management activities, according to a new study conducted by the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT).
All of the RA respondents said they review patients' medical records on a weekly basis, while approximately 99% said they spend time each week assessing risk factors that might contraindicate patients' medical imaging procedures. Some 93% of respondents said they spend time during the week advocating for patient radiation safety and protection.
The survey also found that 81% of respondents perform esophageal studies each week and 80% do upper gastrointestinal studies each week. However, approximately 85% said they never perform MR postprocessing and some 82% said defecography exams are the least-performed procedures.
In addition, a majority of the RAs said they would be willing to participate in voluntary reporting of quality measures, and a majority also said their employer already participates in some type of quality reporting system. More than 60% cited the documentation of fluoroscopy time for procedures performed by RAs as the most important quality measure.
The survey was sent to 262 radiologist assistants in May, and there were 111 respondents (42%).
