Experience with the first cassetteless radiology department.

A 6-year experience with the first cassetteless radiology department has shown that it (1) considerably speeds the examination of the patient and allows the technician to stay with the patient throughout the entire course of the examination; (2) relieves the technician of the burden of manually transporting lead-backed cassettes to and from the darkroom; (3) gives the radiologist closer control over gastrointestinal examinations and allows him to see the processed films during the course of the examination; (4) greatly reduces the number of radiology technicians required; and (5) eliminates a great deal of the function of the darkroom technicians. The cost-efficiency and productivity of the department have been compared with other teaching hospitals in Ontario, the basis for the comparison being the Canadian workload system, which compares units of work. Nonmedical productivity and cost-efficiency are shown to be improved by a factor of 30-60%, with financial savings amounting to about 25% of the total budget.