Those We Serve in Medical Imaging

At Synthesis Health, our mission is to benefit medical imaging professionals and those they serve. In this blog, I'd like to focus on referrers and patients, the people who depend on medical imaging services. How can technology improve their satisfaction?

It begins with performing the proper exam in the most effective manner. Maintaining a concise exam compendium improves the precision and accuracy of exam ordering.  Imagine an order listed as MR Lower Extremity.  Without specifying laterality, contrast, or the precise anatomic location of the exam, this is a set-up for miscommunication. It means that the ordering doctor or nurse must manually provide specifics instructions in a note. Referrers and patients waste time when viewing exams that are labeled with insufficient specificity on an exam list. Automated selection of comparison exams becomes impossible.

When an imaging report is created, many technologies can improve the referrer and patient experience. The ability to create a montage of key images from serial exams allows referrers and patients to quickly understand imaging results and changes over time.  Including key images in reports, placing the report impression at the top of the report, automatically creating an easily understood exam description, automatically documenting the technique and radiation dose all make reports more understandable.

When a patient or referrer reads a finding in a report, the most common latent question is, "what does this sentence or phrase refer to?" Reports with hyperlinks that allow the reader to immediately access a corresponding labeled image provide patients and referrers a great service.

Finally, cloud access without the need for CDs or VPNs makes images and report access by referrers and patients easier and faster.  Referrers

and patients often don't have a say when reporting and PACS are purchased, but the ideal systems serve their needs.

Murray A. Reicher, MD, FACR

CEO Synthesis Health