Feeling stressed at work is normal, but when the stress is prolonged, burnout ensues. In healthcare, professionals in just about every area are pushed to do more and more, and if they aren’t equipped with the right tools, the pressure can lead to stress and burnout. Radiologists are familiar with this scenario, which is why focusing on radiology workflow improvements becomes a high priority.
According to the American College of Radiology (ACR), radiologists are more prone to being in situations where work life becomes a source of unease. This is because they spend long hours isolated in reading rooms and are under a lot of regulatory pressure. They are also faced with electronic medical record challenges, constantly fighting their outdated PACS and its communication issues and are often under heavy caseloads.
Going back 10 years, we know that the ACR found that around half of radiologists said they had at some point or other felt like they had “burned out.” That number jumped up to 60% three years later. And just last year the ACR found that in its survey of 370 breast imaging radiologists, 78.4% of them said they were “highly burned out in at least one measured dimension of burnout.” It’s possible that the pandemic and the added pressures placed on radiologists in 2020 amplified an already-present problem.
Solving Burnout
Leadership plays a big role in addressing workplace problems. Communication skills, which include the ability to listen with an empathetic ear and work to implement employee-inspired changes, are highly important in the skillset of leaders within the radiology setting. But if you’ve already got that in your workplace, it’s time to look at your approach to technology.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used today to help make the mundane tasks that eat away at a radiologist’s time and energy a thing of the past. For example, AI is being used to speed up workflows by triaging images, easing the patient scheduling process and helping to manage patient information in a more orderly fashion. This can reduce mistakes because the element of human error is diminished with the use of AI.
Another technology that can ease radiology workflow is cloud-based radiology solutions that make it easier to manage the terabytes of data imaging centers generate in quick succession. When you partner with the right vendor, you also get access to improved viewing technology, which makes it easier to read images and provide more accurate results.
At OffSite Image Management, we’ve developed numerous solutions that improve radiology workflow. From our teleradiology solution that helps our clients handle heavy caseloads to our MAMMO technology for improved mammography viewing, we’ve got solutions that will prevent your employees from burning out while simultaneously improving your patient care abilities. Contact us and find out more about how we can boost your production, reduce costs and take the stress out of your daily work process.
