Benefits of Integrated RIS / PACS / Reporting Due To Automatic Population of Templated Reports

Publication date: Available online 6 January 2018
Source:Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology
Author(s): Mark D. Kovacs, Maximilian Y. Cho, Philip Burchett, Michael Trambert
With integration of the RIS, PACS, and reporting systems, patient identifiers and exam information can automatically map into exam reports. There are many potential benefits of report automation to radiologists including improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and fatigue. In this paper we describe a two part study, with the first part being an anonymous survey of radiologists concerning report automation. 13 staff radiologists and 9 radiology residents at a single institution completed an anonymous survey. Respondents were asked if automatic population of exam description, comparison exam data, indications, CT dose, technique, and copy to physician data saved time, decreased fatigue, and increased accuracy. Respondents were asked if a "copy findings" function saved time. The second objective part of the study was a mock exam experiment to assess time savings of report automation and to assess error rates. 9 radiologists were asked to dictate fields for 8 mock exams. Subjects were timed and reporting errors monitored. Estimated daily time savings and error rates were calculated assuming a mix of 80 studies. 95% surveyed responded that report automation saved time; 91% that report automation improved accuracy of dictations; 82% that report automation decreased fatigue. 83% of copy finding function users reported time savings. Average time to dictate these pre-populated fields was 51 seconds per study. Average error rate per report was 0.86, with an average of 0.26 errors remaining uncorrected upon report completion. Estimated average time per day saved per radiologist from report automation was 68 minutes. Estimated average corrected errors was 48 per day. Estimated average uncorrected/missed errors was 21 per day. These estimated benefits from report automation result from tight integration of RIS, PACS, and reporting systems.



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