Patient surveys and internal quality improvement reports at Cincinnati Children's indicated that patients weren't sure how they could receive their x-ray results, or they experienced undue anxiety while waiting for their results, according to Dr. David Mihal, who will present the study at RSNA 2017. The researchers thought they could alleviate these issues by coming up with a system to deliver results directly to patients.
They developed a program that they implemented in four phases, starting with outpatients and rolling it out to additional groups. The first phase lasted for 408 days, with technologists selecting outpatients who were either nervous about their exam or who personally requested their results. About one patient per month received his or her results from a radiologist during this phase.
In phase 2, the hospital expanded the program to include outpatients who didn't have a follow-up scheduled -- this tripled the number of patients participating in the program to three per month. In phase 3, the program offered results to all radiography patients using a self-screening survey at check-in -- this resulted in nine patients per month receiving radiologist consultations. Finally, in phase 4, the group removed the wait-time notification (10 to 20 minutes) from the self-screening survey. This resulted in the number of patients getting consultations jumping to 30 per month.
In the analysis of patient feedback on the program, 97% of patients said they understood the results that radiologists delivered to them. Comments also were favorable, with 92% of patients registering their experience as positive, 3% as neutral, and 5% not responding. In addition, radiologists enjoyed the program, with 84% agreeing that they had a feeling of satisfaction afterward.
The project remains ongoing at Cincinnati Children's, according to Mihal, and it demonstrates the feasibility of having radiologists deliver results directly to patients.
"Radiologists can interact directly with patients to dramatically improve the service we provide and without an adverse impact on routine patient care," he said.
