Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Are radiologists getting all the productivity they can when reading CT studies using PACS software? Maybe not, according to a new article in our PACS Digital Community.
Based on a talk by Dr. Jeffrey Mendel of Tufts University, the article examines the progress PACS has made in improving productivity, but it also casts a critical eye on what still needs to be done to help radiologists cope with the massive datasets produced by CT exams.
For example, radiologists still have to scroll too much to find the information they need in a CT dataset, he believes. And scrolling is a sign that radiologists don't trust their automated data search.
Learn more about Dr. Mendel's opinions by clicking here, or visit the community at pacs.auntminnie.com.
Are docs 'gaming' CDS software?
No doctor likes to be second-guessed, especially by a computer. So how do referring physicians react to roadblocks thrown up by clinical decision-support (CDS) software when they're trying to order imaging exams?
Pretty well for the most part, according to a group from Brigham and Women's Hospital. The researchers wanted to find out if referring physicians tried to "game" the CDS system at Brigham by entering incorrect lab results, which would let them do an end run around guidelines that discourage CT exams for patients whose lab results don't meet a certain threshold.
In general, the group found very few cases of decision-support gaming. Read more by clicking here, or visit our Healthcare IT Digital Community at healthcareit.auntminnie.com.
Study logs resident misses
Finally, visit our Residents Digital Community for an article on who's missing what when it comes to reading radiology studies.
Researchers from Eastern Virginia Medical School chronicled cases of missed pathology over seven years by radiology residents on call at the facility. They analyzed the mistakes according to who made them (as classified by year of residency) and by anatomic region.
Not surprisingly, senior residents tended to make fewer mistakes, and fractures and lung nodules on x-ray studies were the most commonly missed type of pathology.
Learn more by clicking here, or visit the community at residents.auntminnie.com.
