George Lee Shih MD, MS, Presenter: Co-founder, Vitesso, LLC

John Bottjer, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Krishna Juluru MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Keith David Hentel MD, MS, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Kevin William Mennitt MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Wei-Jen Shih MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Martin R. Prince MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Patent agreement, General Electric Company Speakers Bureau, General Electric Company Patent agreement, Hitachi, Ltd Patent agreement, Siemens AG Patent agreement, Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV Patent agreement, Nemoto Patent agreement, Bayer AG Patent agreement, EPIX Pharmaceuticals, Inc Patent agreement, Bracco Group Speakers Bureau, Bracco Group Patent agreement, Bayer AG Speakers Bureau, Bayer AG Patent agreement, EPIX Pharmaceuticals, Inc Stockholder, EPIX Pharmaceuticals, Inc Patent agreement, Covidien AG Stockholder, Topspins, Inc President, Topspins, Inc

et al, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Paperless RIS and PACS systems allow increasingly complex and 'virtual' working environments with radiologists remotely reading studies from multiple sites and work shifts. Lack of face to face contact with technologists, nurses and supervisors complicates the job of quality assurance (QA) because giving feedback is cumbersome. In addition new issues have arisen since the advent of PACS (eg, electronic study verification, protocol issues, worklist problems, etc) which create more opportunities for error and delay in results getting to clinicians (eg, study completion). Furthermore, most PACS / RIS systems do not have built in QA modules.

A web-based QA application, RADIQAL (Radiology Quality Assurance Logs) has been created to track IT workflow-related QA issues. RADIQAL integrates directly with PACS (GE Centricity) so that radiologists can type in study QA issues for a particular exam on the PACS station with minimal disruption of workflow. RADIQAL 'tickets' are created on the web-based interface. A keyword filter system automatically assigns and emails the ticket to the appropriate manager(s) / supervisor(s) for resolution. Reminder emails are sent every morning at 7am (Mon to Fri) for all unresolved tickets. The time-to-resolution for tickets and numbers of tickets are tracked. Dynamically-generated graphs generated automatically upon login give an overview of the outstanding issues with respect to location, issue type, supervisor and modality. Tickets can also be routed to pagers for 'stat' indications.  

Previous workflow-related PACS/RIS/IT QA issues were performed on paper and were limited in number due to the difficulty of maintaining these records and communicating the problems (09/07 - 144;10/07 - 22; 11/07 - 19). Since implementing RADIQAL for 3 months,over 800 tickets have been generated with an average over 9 issues per day. All issues are resolved in a timely manner due to computer tracking and public display of time to issue resolution.

RADIQAL has significantly enhanced the QA process facilitating communication and record-keeping. The enhanced QA process results in better technologist supervision and improved radiologist workflow.

Shih, G, Bottjer, J, Juluru, K, Hentel, K, Mennitt, K, Shih, W, Prince, M, et al, , RADIQAL (Radiology Quality Assurance Logs): Computerized Tracking of QA Processes to Resolve PACS/RIS/IT Workflow Issues.  Radiological Society of North America 2008 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, February 18 - February 20, 2008 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2008/6008468.html