Image QA is a critical aspect of any imaging operation and should involve feedback from radiologists to technologists, said presenter Dr. Justin Cramer.
"However, with distributed working environments, communication between radiologists and technologists has diminished, which tends to allow imaging issues to persist uncorrected," Cramer told AuntMinnie.com.
The institution's previous method for image quality reporting was cumbersome for users and administrators, so it wasn't frequently used. To make image QA feedback simpler and more accessible to radiologists and also help the department better identify opportunities for image quality improvement, the researchers aimed to develop software that would minimize user effort and maximize information utility, he said.
"We knew that simplifying the reporting process would likely increase the number of reported issues, but that this would actually be a more accurate reflection of our imaging process," Cramer said.
The resulting program, which launches from the PACS software as an HTML form, also has the added benefit of utilizing structured data instead of just free text. This made it easier to develop an administrative dashboard, he said.
"By reducing the effort required to submit image QA reporting feedback to a couple of clicks within the PACS workflow, we were able to significantly increase radiologist participation in QA feedback, which in turn allowed us to make important improvements in our imaging process and quality," Cramer said. "Counterintuitively, a higher rate of QA issues may actually reflect a better process."
Stop by this presentation on Wednesday afternoon to learn more.
