New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, New York.
Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Acad Radiol. 2018 Dec;25(12):1521-1525. doi: 10.1016/j.acra.2018.04.014.
Efficiency is central to current radiology practice. Knowledge of report generation timing is essential for workload optimization and departmental staffing decisions. Yet little research evaluates the distribution of activities performed by neuroradiologists in daily work.
This observational study tracked radiologists interpreting 358 brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in an academic practice over 9 months. We measured the total duration from study opening to report signing and times for five activities performed during this period: image viewing, report transcription, obtaining clinical data, education, and other. Attendings, fellows, and residents reading studies independently and attendings over-reading trainee-previewed studies were observed.
Ten attendings, 12 fellows, and 13 residents spent a mean of 11, 18, and 16 minutes reading brain MRIs independently. Mean duration was significantly different comparing attendings in all assignments to fellows (18.36 ± 1.05 minutes, p = 0.0001) or residents (16.31 ± 1.11 minutes, p = 0.001) but not between fellows/residents. Mean duration among attendings reading independently versus over-reading trainees was not statistically different. Attendings spent the same time on image viewing (4.07-5.33 minutes) with or without trainees. Attending transcription time was shortest when over-reading trainees (2.24 minutes) and longest when reading independently (4.20 minutes), demonstrating benefit of the draft report. Fellows and Residents spent longer on image viewing (7.14 minutes and 8.06 minutes, respectively) and transcription (7.02 minutes and 5.40 minutes, respectively) than attendings reading independently.
Neuroradiologist time/activity distributions for reading brain MRI studies were measured, setting the stage to establish a benchmark for future reference and suggesting opportunities for greater efficiency. Furthermore, report production time can be decreased when a draft report is available.
效率是当前放射科实践的核心。了解报告生成时间对于优化工作量和部门人员配置决策至关重要。然而，很少有研究评估神经放射科医生在日常工作中所进行的活动分布。
本观察性研究在 9 个月内跟踪了一位在学术实践中解读 358 例脑磁共振成像（MRI）的放射科医生。我们测量了从研究开始到报告签署的总时间，以及在此期间进行的五项活动的时间：图像查看、报告转录、获取临床数据、教育和其他。观察了独立阅读研究的主治医生、研究员和住院医生，以及主治医生阅读受训者预览研究的情况。
10 位主治医生、12 位研究员和 13 位住院医生独立阅读脑 MRI 的平均时间分别为 11、18 和 16 分钟。主治医生在所有任务中的平均用时与研究员（18.36±1.05 分钟，p=0.0001）或住院医生（16.31±1.11 分钟，p=0.001）相比有显著差异，但主治医生之间无显著差异。主治医生独立阅读与阅读受训者的平均用时无统计学差异。主治医生查看图像的时间相同（4.07-5.33 分钟），无论是否有受训者在场。主治医生在阅读受训者的草稿报告时转录时间最短（2.24 分钟），在独立阅读时最长（4.20 分钟），这表明草稿报告是有益的。研究员和住院医生查看图像（分别为 7.14 分钟和 8.06 分钟）和转录（分别为 7.02 分钟和 5.40 分钟）的时间均长于主治医生独立阅读的时间。
测量了神经放射科医生阅读脑 MRI 研究的时间/活动分布，为未来的基准建立奠定了基础，并提出了提高效率的机会。此外，当有草稿报告时，可以减少报告的生成时间。
