A time-motion study of digital radiography at implementation.

With increasing budgetary restraints on the health system, it is apparent that the main contribution that radiology departments can make to significant cost reduction in hospitals is to decrease the length of time between requesting an X-ray examination and receiving the report (and images). Digital radiography (DR) was introduced into the Radiology Department at the Royal Adelaide Hospital as a pilot project to research the cost-benefits and efficiency of the system, and to determine future directions for planning a digital department. The business plan developed prior to implementation of this pilot project predicted a saving of one bed-day per inpatient when a fully digital department with a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) is installed. This initial study comparing DR and conventional radiography (convR) provides baseline data and shows encouraging results for more rapid transmission of reports to clinicians.