What if your imaging teams could collaborate remotely, whether in different rooms, on different floors or in different buildings?​

Qualified imaging staff are already in short supply – and the forecast for meeting the increasing demand is not optimistic.  The demand for complex medical imaging is growing faster than the clinical radiology workforce – the shortfall in which is expected to reach 44% by 2025.^1​

You’re living this every day. Increasing demands of care systems put added pressure on already-stretched imaging teams. And the increasing complexity of technology and cases makes challenges with staffing, skill variability and quality standardisation more apparent than ever.

What if you could provide the support your team needs – on demand – exactly when they need it? What if you could offer greater access to care by extending your team rather than expanding it? And what if you could take advantage of more experienced or specialist imaging colleagues​ in closed environments such as COVID wards, without summoning them to the bedside? 

COVID-19 heightened the need for remote collaboration and support

Before the pandemic, diagnostic services were already burdened with high demand, short staffing and inefficient workflows, leading to high rates of staff stress and burnout. If imaging teams faced staffing and workflow challenges before the pandemic, COVID-19 has brought those challenges into even higher resolution. With the additional burdens of personal protective equipment (PPE) and new disinfection protocols, the need for greater staff efficiency and support has become even more urgent. Remote and virtualised services offer a powerful way to extend care and enable that care to be delivered despite the inevitable shocks and surges to systems and schedules.

Image acquisition goes virtual with a central command center

What happens when physical distance is no longer an obstacle?

With COVID-19 as a catalyst for change, clinical leaders across the globe have shown great resourcefulness in using tele-acquisition and remote collaboration solutions to gain access, extend expertise, and drive consistency in their imaging operations. Now, a radiographer can receive guidance from a senior or more experienced colleague, or a specialist - in real time - during a procedure, even if the radiographer and their colleague are on separate floors or in different buildings. ​For those colleagues, the less time they spend travelling between the locations they support, the more time they can devote to performing the specialised capabilities for which they’ve trained.

What do these solutions mean for patients?

Beyond the benefits for imaging teams, their patients – whether in rural areas, in quarantine conditions, or with limited mobility – can benefit from greater access to expert care, with physical distance no longer a factor.  

As the NHS looks to transform its imaging and diagnostic services², having a central command center could allow imaging providers to offer complex procedures at more locations, closer to where patients live, and at more flexible hours – meaning less hassle and greater convenience for patients.