Medical imaging has provided an immense amount of insight into what many in the healthcare community are focused on right now – COVID-19. CT scans are being viewed as a game-changer, providing the diagnostic insights required to meet the challenges of the pandemic head-on.
Healthcare providers looking to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have established a partnership for diagnosing and treating people infected with COVID. One of the great things about the formulation of this partnership is that radiology protocols usually take years to come together, but this partnership provides real-time anonymization of CT scans, which can help improve results.
Finding the Cause of Illness
Predominantly, those suffering the worst from COVID-19 have pneumonia. When a patient presents with symptoms of pneumonia, they are given a chest x-ray. While it doesn’t take much time to take the images, it can take a long time to read them. Minutes count when someone is seriously ill, so prescribing a course of treatment is vital.
Fortunately, an alliance of healthcare experts has helped to establish a learning algorithm, according to a recent article in Health Analytics. According to a doctor working in the alliance, “In this initial study, we’ve demonstrated the algorithm’s potential by validating it on patients in the emergency departments at Intermountain Healthcare. Our hope is that the algorithm can improve the quality of pneumonia care at Intermountain, from improving diagnostic accuracy to reducing time to diagnosis.”
Technology Improvements
One barrier to fast diagnoses is the lack of visibility when it comes to reading exams. If your radiologist is unable to be in the medical facility where the viewers are stationed, they can’t make their assessment of the exam. And with so much of the workforce doing their jobs remotely, the healthcare providers need to utilize the right technology to also work remotely.
Cloud-based platforms for healthcare, many of which have been around for years, got a lot of attention at the onset of the pandemic. And while teleradiology has been in vogue for a while, not everyone new to the technology found it terribly helpful this year, due mostly to a lack of visibility regarding where the exam was in the process and when it could be expected to be read.
At OffSite Image Management, we focus on providing cloud-based solutions that give the healthcare industry an easier way to view medical imaging. In fact, our TeleRAD360 solution provides total accountability and even offers the option to change exam priorities. We’ve developed several solutions for better viewing and faster diagnoses, so contact us and let’s talk about how we can give you an advantage.
