In a recent presentation, Dr. Cheryl Petersilge, President and Founder of Vidagos, an enterprise imaging strategy firm, shared her insights as to why radiologists need to take the lead in Enterprise Imaging and also add more value to their role in the clinical process. Dr. Petersilge is a leader in imaging and an innovative engineer. She has significant experience in enterprise imaging and healthcare informatics.
Enterprise Imaging, as defined by the HIMSS-SIIM Enterprise Imaging Community, is a set of strategies, initiatives and workflows that are implemented across a healthcare enterprise and that allow them to capture, index, manage, store, distribute, view, exchange and analyse clinical imaging and multimedia content. Enterprise Imaging includes all clinical imaging, not just those related to radiology.
Enterprise Imaging offers several benefits to radiologists. First and foremost, it allows them to drive value as well as expand their value within their healthcare organisation. Also, with the increasing application of advanced technology in healthcare such as artificial intelligence, centralisation of IT services, automation, etc., Enterprise Imaging can help radiologists better deal with the challenges associated with advanced technology.
It makes perfect sense that images should be available in the electronic patient record as it can improve efficiency, reduce archives, improve data utilisation and standardise workflow. Also, the modern patient is more engaged in their care process, and enterprise imaging can increase patient engagement and satisfaction by providing them easy access to their medical images.
Radiologists are experts in imaging technology. Also, radiologists play a critical role in the diagnostic process as well as the disease monitoring process. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that they take a leading role in Enterprise Imaging. Radiologists can play an important role in imaging workflow management and creation, selecting the right imaging technology and setting and communicating standards and quality needs for imaging. Also, radiologists can contribute to the governance of Enterprise Imaging programmes.
For successful implementation of Enterprise Imaging, it is important for radiologists to lead. They can help the implementation process by educating their colleagues on workflows, quality control, peer review and other important areas of radiology. By taking the lead in Enterprise Imaging, radiologists will also get greater visibility and a more value-added role in the clinical process. They can play the role of the informed expert, the one who manages patient data and helps make informed clinical decisions. Radiologists can help healthcare organisations move towards patient-centric and value-based care.
Source: Agfa HealthCare
Image Credit: iStock
