The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol. 2024 Aug;68(5):530-539. doi: 10.1111/1754-9485.13713. Epub 2024 Jun 5.
Previous studies assessing the volume of radiological studies rarely considered the corresponding number of images. We aimed to quantify the increases in study and image numbers per radiologist in a tertiary healthcare network to better understand the demands on imaging services.
Using the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), the number of images per study was obtained for all diagnostic studies reported by in-house radiologists at a tertiary healthcare network in Melbourne, Australia, between January 2009 and December 2022. Payroll data was used to obtain the numbers of full-time equivalent radiologists.
Across all modalities, there were 4,462,702 diagnostic studies and 1,116,311,209 images. The number of monthly studies increased from 17,235 to 35,152 (104%) over the study period. The number of monthly images increased from 1,120,832 to 13,353,056 (1091%), with computed tomography (CT) showing the greatest absolute increase of 9,395,653 images per month (1476%). There was no increase in the monthly studies per full-time equivalent radiologist; however, the number of monthly image slices per radiologist increased 399%, from 48,781 to 243,518 (Kendall Tau correlation coefficient 0.830, P-value < 0.0001).
The number of monthly images per radiologist increased substantially from 2009 to 2022, despite a relatively constant number of monthly studies per radiologist. Our study suggests that using the number of studies as an isolated fundamental data set underestimates the true radiologist's workload. We propose that the increased volume of images examined by individual radiologists may more appropriately reflect true work demand and may add more weight to future workforce planning.
以前评估放射学研究量的研究很少考虑相应的图像数量。我们旨在量化三级医疗网络中每位放射科医生的研究和图像数量的增加，以更好地了解影像服务的需求。
使用影像归档和通信系统（PACS），我们获取了澳大利亚墨尔本一家三级医疗网络中内部放射科医生报告的所有诊断研究的每例研究的图像数量。使用薪资数据获得全职当量放射科医生的数量。
在所有模态中，共有 4462702 例诊断研究和 1116311209 张图像。在研究期间，每月研究数量从 17235 例增加到 35152 例（增加了 104%）。每月图像数量从 1120832 张增加到 13353056 张（增加了 1091%），其中计算机断层扫描（CT）显示每月增加了 9395653 张图像（增加了 1476%）。每位全职当量放射科医生的每月研究数量没有增加；然而，每位放射科医生的每月图像切片数量增加了 399%，从 48781 张增加到 243518 张（Kendall Tau 相关系数 0.830，P 值<0.0001）。
尽管每位放射科医生的每月研究数量相对稳定，但每位放射科医生的每月图像数量从 2009 年到 2022 年大幅增加。我们的研究表明，仅使用研究数量作为孤立的基本数据集低估了放射科医生的实际工作量。我们提出，每位放射科医生检查的图像量增加可能更恰当地反映实际工作需求，并可能为未来的劳动力规划增加更多权重。
