“There is no patient satisfaction without staff satisfaction,” says Mr. Giordano. “So we must ensure that all levels of staff are happy and content in what they do. And especially now during this time of high anxiety and high pressure due to the pandemic, it is even more crucial than it ever was.”
Having a well-planned, well-managed patient schedule can benefit patients and radiographers alike. It can allow the radiographer to have more time to focus on the patient, which may in turn increase employee satisfaction.5
“Looking at options to improve both staff and patient satisfaction, we realised that one of our biggest issues are our wait times before start of the scan. We’re looking at ways to improve our management of patient delays and especially would like a more automated communicative measure to facilitate that better.”
While radiographers value their ability to provide excellent, patient-centered care, with a special focus on patient communication, their burden of responsibilities can detract from a radiographer’s job satisfaction.3,4
In a 2019 study, substantial numbers of radiographers reported moderate or severe levels of job stress, most often associated with their workload.3 Also inefficiencies, overtime, patients arriving late and no-shows, all contribute to job-related stress.
The study revealed that radiographers are often asked to do more, for example patient transport, or to support imaging needs for other departments, leaving them less time for their patients.3 Radiographers are sometimes unable to stay on schedule, and often experience having reduced time or no time at all for breaks.3
What are the consequences? Stress and increased workload may lead to mistakes and errors, which in turn may lead to retakes, recalls or complaints. Recent data has shown that high numbers of imaging studies and the complexities of the imaging care continuum still create several risks, including errors in scanning procedures, increasing undue stress for the imaging staff.3,4 Reduced satisfaction and stress can also lead to burnout. Prolonged stress may also take a toll on the radiographer’s mental health, resulting in the possible development of anxiety and depression symptoms. 5,6
Reliable automated processes and supportive tools present opportunity for gains in satisfaction and efficiency. The 2019 study shows that 23% of the imaging staff felt that almost a quarter of their work could be automated.3 It could allow radiographers to multitask more easily, leading to higher throughput and resulting in more time for patients, which many of them desire.3 Increased levels of automation could also lead to robustness of quality, which helps further ease the strain on radiologists.7,8
In the past years Philips has introduced a whole range of automation and other workflow improvements, such as automatic patient centering in the MRI, touchless respiratory triggering, in-room exam start button, automated planning and scanning, in-bore visual guidance for breath holds and scan progress, automatic adjustments for patients with MR Conditional implants, automated post-processing. And more will be coming.
Examples of automation in the operator room:
After learning the operator’s positioning preference, SmartExam can automatically and reproducibly position the scanning area
“SmartExam gives me the confidence that I can present consistently planned images to the radiologist. At every interval of repeat imaging a patient’s images look nearly identical. This reproducible planning is crucially important in oncology patients pre- and post-treatment, in MS patients and more – everywhere the goal is the same: consistent imaging plan, consistent image plane, reproducible image quality,” says Mr. Giordano.
In MRI of patients with MR Conditional implants the scanner can automatically adapt all sequences in the ExamCard to comply with the implant’s conditions after entering three parameters.
“The ScanWise software tremendously helps the radiographer. It takes the guesswork and procedural adjustments out of the radiographer’s hands and saves the time that the radiographer would need for those adjustments. And on top of reducing time and number of clicks, it provides the confidence and peace of mind that we cannot exceed the limitations of the conditional implant – the scanner will keep parameters within bounds,” says Mr. Giordano.
To measure is to know. If you can not measure it, you can not improve it.
William Thomson, First Baron Kelvin,
British mathematical physicist and engineer (1824-1907)
1. IMV 2020 MRI Market Outlook Report. December 2020. www.imvinfo.com/product/2020-mr-market-outlook-report/ . Accessed 23 January 2021.
2. Hospitals and Health Systems Face Unprecedented Financial Pressures Due to COVID-19. American Hospital Association. www.aha.org/guidesreports/2020-05-05-hospitals-and-health-systems-face-unprecedented-financial-pressures-due. Accessed 22 January 2021.
3. Research report: Radiology staff in focus. An impact and satisfaction survey of radiology radiographers and imaging directors. 2019. www.usa.philips.com/healthcare/medical-specialties/radiology/improving-radiology-staff-and-patient-experience/staff-research Accessed 20 January 2021.
4. Research report: The patient factor: Imaging Beyond the Scan. 2017. www.usa.philips.com/c-dam/b2bhc/master/Specialties/opportunity/staff/documents/the-patient-factor-final.download.pdf
5. Zhu J, et al. Prevalence and influencing factors of anxiety and depression symptoms in the first-line medical staff fighting against COVID-19 in Gansu. Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:386.
6. Wu W, et al. Psychological stress of medical staffs during outbreak of COVID-9 and adjustment strategy. J Med Virol. 2020;92:1962-1970.
7. White Paper: Realizing productivity gains in MRI. Focusing more on the patient can boost the efficiency of MRI procedures. 2018. www.usa.philips.com/healthcare/consulting/articles/white-paper/mri-efficiency-white-paper
8. Nandwana SB, Walls G, Reich S. Learning From Experience: Minimizing Patient Delays in Radiology: Optimizing On-Time Starts for CT Procedures. Curr Prob Diagn Radiol. 2021;50(1):11-15.
9. Scanning patients with MR Conditional implants. Philips FieldStrength 2015. www.philips.com.au/healthcare/education-resources/publications/fieldstrength/mri-and-mr-conditional-implants
10. Staff shortages in imaging departments causes stress among existing employees. Radiology Business 2018. www.radiologybusiness.com/topics/healthcare-economics/staff-shortages-causing-stress-among-employees
Results from case studies are not predictive of results in other cases. Results in other case may vary.
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