This year’s competition brought out the best in a strong field. All entrants developed notably original breakthroughs in various aspects of medical imaging. And the winners never lost sight of the ultimate point of all the extra effort: improving patient care while increasing efficiencies and, wherever possible, cutting or at least containing costs. Now meet the best of the best.
Last spring RBJ put out a call for entrants to compete in its inaugural Imaging Innovation Awards. We opened the contest to all private radiology practices and hospital radiology departments that had recently completed a project combining creative thinking with coordinated teamwork to develop a notably original breakthrough in some particular aspect of medical imaging.
Every year, the HIMSS annual meeting tackles the biggest issues in healthcare informatics, and managing medical images is always a big topic of discussion. This year’s focus is on enterprise imaging and the inherent challenges with managing different types of images from the various specialties around a hospital or system.
In order for radiologists to generate the most value for their patients and referring providers, they need to be equipped with all the right tools during their workflow. That includes adequate context in the form of patient data.
It's hard to get things done when you're constantly being interrupted. This applies to any task, but is especially true for demanding tasks requiring focused concentration-like interpreting a medical image.
It's no secret that workflows in radiology are changing. A number of factors are impacting interpretation volume, while cutting-edge technologies are transforming how radiologists work.
Workflow engines have been deployed in a number of different industries and professions, from streamlining manufacturing to helping large law firms stay on task. Could workflow engines solve efficiency problems in radiology? Bradley J. Erickson, MD, PhD, suspects they can.
Due to improvements in both technology and the quality of patient care, there are currently more images being used in the healthcare industry than ever before.
Today, imaging has truly gone enterprise-wide, with medical centers needing to optimize their processes and technology to accommodate images from cardiology, pathology, dermatology and more.
Radiology can provide immense value to the healthcare system, not only through accurate diagnostic interpretations, but by helping direct the appropriate use of imaging.
