Radiology is at a pivotal point. Workforce shortages in health care, including radiology, contribute to the increasing levels of burnout.
Fueled by an aging population, an increase in the number of patients with chronic conditions, and improvements in imaging technology, the demand for radiology services is consistently high and expected to continue to grow in 2025 and beyond.
Yet, the rising demand must be met by a radiology workforce stretched thinner than ever. Staffing is a key concern, by the end of 2024 the United States will have a shortage of up to 64,000 physicians. And more than half of radiologists reported burnout in 2022.
Innovation and reimagining how our radiologists perform patient care is important. Advances in technology can make it possible to address operational inefficiencies and overcome some of the challenges that contribute to physician burnout and improve timely access to care.
Three trends are paving the way for better clinician experiences in 2025.
Moving to the cloud for faster read times: timely patient care
Radiologists are doing more work with less time. In an eight-hour workday, we must review one image every three to four seconds to meet workload demands. Further, there are a variety of other tasks we may be responsible for as part of our patient care responsibilities including image-guided procedures such as breast or liver biopsies, consulting with referring physicians, and speaking with patients who want to discuss imaging exam results. Outdated technology often causes inefficiencies and contributes to physician burnout and patient frustration.
Forward-looking health systems are increasingly considering plans to move patient imaging to the cloud which can allow for quicker loading and viewing of images regardless of location. According to a recent report, a health system benefited from improved care coordination and patient engagement leveraging cloud technology.
With immediate access to patient data, physicians can review and provide a diagnosis faster. Using traditional methods, such as burning an image on a CD and asking the patient to physically transport it to their referring physician’s office or another health system, results in delays. Using cloud imaging, radiologists can pull up images faster than it is possible using older systems, reducing stress and helping us make better use of time.
Improving workflow and prioritizing critical exams
Smart cloud technologies are optimizing radiology workflows so patient histories and images are readily accessible to the physicians who need the information for patient care and diagnosis. Sharing images across departments, clinics and health systems, rather than confining them to a single workstation, saves time for physicians.
Timely coordination among providers is critical in health care. Certain critical test results must be communicated within a maximum of one hour. After receiving the results, the referring physician can develop a care plan. Spending valuable time searching for or waiting for images can lead to frustration and delays in patient care.
Newer technology allows radiologists to mark imaging results as “critical” at the time of interpretation. Following that designation, an intelligent imaging workflow can send an automated urgent or semi-urgent alert to the referring physicians.
For example, a person who has been in a car accident will have their CT scan prioritized for critical review, while an MRI scan for a less urgent issue such as chronic back pain is handled routinely. Such technology helps radiologists maintain an uninterrupted workflow, while ensuring referring physicians get results quickly and patients receive timely care.
Access anywhere, anytime
Greater interoperability and secure access to images anywhere, at any time is becoming increasingly important as care delivery shifts to more outpatient and home settings, and as radiologists perform their jobs in a variety of locations. As these trends accelerate across health care, organizations offering cloud-powered technology will stand out.
A single hospital may have multiple imaging centers spread out geographically or operate on different computer systems. Lack of interoperability between systems presents a real problem when physicians in different locations need timely access to the same images. In an American Medical Association survey of more than 1,500 physicians, 80% of the respondents indicated telemedicine improved the timeliness of care.