Survey traces radiologist interest in tablets

Jan 13, 2011

While radiologists appear to be increasingly adopting wireless tablet devices, the ability to view images on these devices still seems to be in the early phases of implementation at most organizations, according to a recent survey on wireless device use from market research firm IMV Medical Information Division.

From a survey of visitors to its booth at the 2010 RSNA meeting in Chicago, IMV found that of the participants who knew if radiologists own a wireless tablet device at their organization, 80% said at least one of their radiologists owns one. And 25% of the radiologists at these sites have at least one unit, according to the Des Plaines, IL-based firm.

The study included responses from 339 IMV booth visitors; half were from the U.S. and half were international respondents.

In the 80% of sites where radiologists own a wireless tablet device, 51% have one to five radiologists who own a device, while 29% have six or more radiologists who do. IMV found an average number of 6.8 radiologists having wireless tablet devices.

The ability to implement viewing of images on wireless devices still appears to be in the early phases for most organizations, however. Only 6% of U.S. participants and 2% of international respondents said their organizations are currently implementing this capability, while 33% of U.S. respondents and 31% of international participants are currently investigating it.

Twenty-three percent of international respondents said they are planning to add this capability over the next three years, compared with 13% of U.S. participants.

IMV also asked participants to rate nine potential uses of a wireless tablet device on a scale from 1 (not a priority) to 5 (a major priority).

Priority	Avg. rating
For radiologists to view images after hours or remotely	3.8
For radiologists to review cases/images with referring physicians	3.7
For radiologists to view educational/learning files or cases	3.6
For surgeons/specialists to preview patient cases prior to treatment	3.6
For physicians to show images to patients	3.4
For referral physicians/offices to use for computerized order entry	3.3
For radiologists to view images for diagnostic reading purposes	3.2
Patient registration and/or appointment scheduling	3.1
For staff to take inventory of supplies and equipment	3.0

Areas of concern cited by respondents included display resolution, a belief that a handheld device can also be a disruptive technology, expense, and security policies that prohibit Wi-Fi connections in an enterprise, IMV said.

Disclosure notice: AuntMinnie.com is owned by IMV, Ltd.

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