Putting staggered radiologist work shifts in place can improve communications between doctors regarding patient findings and, thus, improve patient care, according to a new study in the September issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston found that imaging exam findings were communicated 26% more quickly by radiologists on the early morning shift (3 a.m. to 11 a.m.) compared to those on the day shift (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) (JACR, September 2010, Vol. 7:9, pp. 715-721).
Over a four-month period, lead author Rathachai Kaewlai, MD, and colleagues included 6,448 portable x-ray exams performed during an early morning radiologist shift in the study. Urgent findings that required immediate communication between doctors were found in 308 studies (4.8%).
The early morning shift of radiologists communicated these findings on average two hours earlier compared to the control group, according to the researchers: Mean elapsed time from image acquisition to the communication of urgent results was 340 minutes in the study group and 457 minutes in the control group.
"Our results support the concept that staggered radiologist work shifts have the potential to expedite the communication of urgent findings and improve patient care," they concluded.
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