Impact of 24/7/365 Attending Radiologist Coverage on the Turnaround Time of Trauma-Related Imaging Studies Being Finalized Within 48 Hours in an Emergency Radiology Department, Offering a Perspective from a Tertiary Care Hospital

2020 ◽  
pp. 084653712090204
Author(s):  
Sabeena Jalal ◽  
Zharmaine Ante ◽  
Hugue Ouellette ◽  
Stephen Peters ◽  
Peter Munk ◽  
...  

Objective: To offer an evidence-based account of the effect of 24/7/365 attending radiologist coverage on the turnaround time (TAT) of trauma-related radiographs finalized within 48 hours of exam completion, drawing data from an emergency radiology department of a tertiary care hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective chart review, where TATs of imaging studies for a sample of trauma patients, who had visited the emergency department of the Vancouver General Hospital between two time periods, January 1 to September 30, 2013, and January 1 to September 30, 2017, were noted. Results: In models adjusted for patient’s age, sex, and seasonality, the 24/7/365 attending radiologist coverage was associated with an average of 19.1 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 18.7-19.4) hours of reduction in time from exam completion to report finalization by an attending radiologist. Approximately 11.3 (95% CI: 18.7-19.4) hours was due to reduction in time from exam completion to preliminary diagnosis of reports. When the impact of the increased number of radiology staff in 2017 was removed in the analysis, the overall TAT was reduced by 13.3 (95% CI: 13.0-13.6) hours and the time from exam completion to preliminary report was reduced by 7.8 (95% CI: 7.6-8.1) hours. Limitation: Since we have used a simple random sample (SRS) for this research, this study does not describe the burden of reports that are finalized in the emergency and trauma radiology department during the given time periods. Conclusion: Our pilot study demonstrates that the implementation of 24/7/365 attending radiology coverage significantly reduces TAT for finalized radiology reports of all modalities of trauma imaging studies in an emergency and trauma radiology department. Policy implication: This research serves the contemporary health-care administration, policymaking information needs by providing the evidence for significantly reduced TAT of finalized radiology reports from a Canadian perspective.

2020 ◽  
pp. 084653711989932
Author(s):  
Sabeena Jalal ◽  
Hugue Ouellette ◽  
Zharmaine Ante ◽  
Peter Munk ◽  
Faisal Khosa ◽  
...  

Objective: To study the impact of 24/7/365 attending radiologist coverage on the turnaround time (TAT) of trauma and nontrauma cases in an emergency and trauma radiology department. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective chart review in which TAT of patients coming to the emergency department between 2 periods: (1) December 1, 2012, to September 30, 2013, and (2) January 1, 2017, to January 30, 2018, and whose reports were read by an attending emergency and trauma radiologist was noted. Results: The 24/7/365 radiology coverage was associated with a significant reduction in TAT of computed tomography reports, and the time reduction was comparable between trauma and nontrauma cases. In adjusted models, the extension of radiology coverage was associated with an average of 7.83 hours reduction in overall TAT (95% confidence interval [CI]: 7.44-8.22) for reports related to trauma, in which 2.73 hours were due to reduction in completion to transcription time (TC; 95% CI: 2.53-2.93), and 5.10 hours were due to reduction in transcription to finalization time (TF; 95% CI: 4.75-5.44). For reports related to nontrauma cases, 24/7/365 coverage was associated with an average of 6.07 hours reduction in overall TAT (95% CI: 3.54-8.59), 2.91 hours reduction in TC (95% CI: 1.55-4.26), and 3.16 hours reduction in TF (95% CI: 0.90-5.42). Conclusion: Our pilot study demonstrates that the implementation of on-site 24/7/365 attending emergency radiology coverage at a tertiary care center was associated with a reduced TAT for trauma and nontrauma patients imaging studies. Although the magnitude and precision of estimates were slightly higher for trauma cases as compared to nontrauma cases. Trauma examinations stand to benefit the most from 24/7/365 attending level radiology coverage.


Author(s):  
Christoph Stern ◽  
Thomas Boehm ◽  
Burkhardt Seifert ◽  
Nadine Kawel-Boehm

Introduction To assess the impact of changing from general to subspecialized reporting on turnaround time of radiology reports (TAT), the fraction of radiology reports available within 24 hours (R< 24 h) and productivity. Materials and Methods Reporting workflow in our radiology department was changed from general reporting (radiologists report imaging studies of all areas [neuroradiological, abdominal, musculoskeletal imaging et cetera]) to subspecialized reporting (radiologists solely report imaging studies of their subspecialty field [e. g. musculoskeletal]). TAT, R< 24 h and productivity were calculated for a 12-month period of general reporting (January-December 2012) and compared to a 12-month period of subspecialized reporting (April 2014-March 2015) using Mann Whitney U-test, Pearson chi-square test and odds ratios, respectively. Results Report TAT decreased from a median of 17:04 hours (h) during general reporting to 3:38 h during subspecialized reporting, resulting in a 4.7-fold improvement (p < 0.001). R< 24 h improved significantly from 65 % to 87 % (p < 0.001). The odds of a radiology report being available < 24 h was 3.6- fold higher during subspecialized compared to general reporting. Productivity increased from a median of 301 to 376 (reports/full-time radiologist/month) (p = 0.001). Conclusion Changing the workflow from general to subspecialized reporting significantly improved the turnaround time of radiology reports, the fraction of radiology reports available within 24 hours and productivity. Key Points:  Citation Format


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s263-s264
Author(s):  
Jordan Polistico ◽  
Avnish Sandhu ◽  
Teena Chopra ◽  
Erin Goldman ◽  
Jennifer LeRose ◽  
...  

Background: Influenza causes a high burden of disease in the United States, with an estimate of 960,000 hospitalizations in the 2017–2018 flu season. Traditional flu diagnostic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests have a longer (24 hours or more) turnaround time that may lead to an increase in unnecessary inpatient admissions during peak influenza season. A new point-of-care rapid PCR assays, Xpert Flu, is an FDA-approved PCR test that has a significant decrease in turnaround time (2 hours). The present study sought to understand the impact of implementing a new Xpert Flu test on the rate of inpatient admissions. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to compare rates of inpatient admissions in patients tested with traditional flu PCR during the 2017–2018 flu season and the rapid flu PCR during the 2018–2019 flu season in a tertiary-care center in greater Detroit area. The center has 1 pediatric hospital (hospital A) and 3 adult hospitals (hospital B, C, D). Patients with influenza-like illness who presented to all 4 hospitals during 2 consecutive influenza seasons were analyzed. Results: In total, 20,923 patients were tested with either the rapid flu PCR or the traditional flu PCR. Among these, 14,124 patients (67.2%) were discharged from the emergency department and 6,844 (32.7%) were admitted. There was a significant decrease in inpatient admissions in the traditional flu PCR group compared to the rapid flu PCR group across all hospitals (49.56% vs 26.6% respectively; P < .001). As expected, a significant proportion of influenza testing was performed in the pediatric hospital, 10,513 (50.2%). A greater reduction (30% decrease in the rapid flu PCR group compared to the traditional flu PCR group) was observed in inpatient admissions in the pediatric hospital (Table 1) Conclusions: Rapid molecular influenza testing can significantly decrease inpatient admissions in a busy tertiary-care hospital, which can indirectly lead to improved patient quality with easy bed availability and less time spent in a private room with droplet precautions. Last but not the least, this testing method can certainly lead to lower healthcare costs.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None


Author(s):  
Yan-Jun Zheng ◽  
Ting Xie ◽  
Lin Wu ◽  
Xiao-Ying Liu ◽  
Ling Zhu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The incidence of Candida bloodstream infections (BSIs), has increased over time. In this study, we aimed to describe the current epidemiology of Candida BSI in a large tertiary care hospital in Shanghai and to determine the risk factors of 28-day mortality and the impact of antifungal therapy on clinical outcomes. Methods All consecutive adult inpatients with Candida BSI at Ruijin Hospital between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2018, were enrolled. Underlying diseases, clinical severity, species distribution, antifungal therapy, and their impact on the outcomes were analyzed. Results Among the 370 inpatients with 393 consecutive episodes of Candida BSI, the incidence of nosocomial Candida BSI was 0.39 episodes/1000 hospitalized patients. Of the 393 cases, 299 (76.1%) were treated with antifungal therapy (247 and 52 were treated with early appropriate and targeted antifungal therapy, respectively). The overall 28-day mortality rate was 28.5%, which was significantly lower in those who received early appropriate (25.5%) or targeted (23.1%) antifungal therapy than in those who did not (39.4%; P = 0.012 and P = 0.046, respectively). In multivariate Cox regression analysis, age, chronic renal failure, mechanical ventilation, and severe neutropenia were found to be independent risk factors of the 28-day mortality rate. Patients who received antifungal therapy had a lower mortality risk than did those who did not. Conclusions The incidence of Candida BSI has increased steadily in the past 11 years at our tertiary care hospital in Shanghai. Antifungal therapy influenced short-term survival, but no significant difference in mortality was observed between patients who received early appropriate and targeted antifungal therapy.


Author(s):  
OVAIS ULLAH SHIRAZI ◽  
NORNY SYAFINAZ AB RAHMAN ◽  
CHE SURAYA ZIN ◽  
HANNAH MD MAHIR ◽  
SYAMHANIN ADNAN

Objective: To evaluate the impact of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) on antibiotic prescribing patterns and certain clinical outcomes, the length of stay (LOS) and the re-admission rate (RR) of the patients treated within the medical ward of a tertiary care hospital in Malaysia. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted retrospectively. The prescriptions of the AMS included alert antibiotics (AA) such as cefepime, ceftazidime, colistin (polymyxin E), imipenem-cilastatin, meropenem, piperacillin-tazobactam and vancomycin were reviewed for the period of 24 mo before (May, 2012–April, 2014) and after (May, 2014–April, 2016) the AMS implementation for the patients who were treated within the medical ward of a Malaysian tertiary care hospital. Patterns of antibiotics prescribed were determined descriptively. The impact of the AMS on the length of stay (LOS) and readmission rate (RR) was determined by the interrupted time series (ITS) comparative analysis of the pre-and post-AMS segments segregated by the point of onset (May, 2014) of the AMS program. Data analysis was performed through autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) Winter Additive model and the Games-Howell non-parametric post hoc test by using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: A total of 1716 prescriptions of the AA included for the AMS program showed that cefepime (623, 36.3%) and piperacillin-tazobactam (424, 24.7%) were the most prescribed antibiotics from May 2012 to April 2016. A 23.6% drop in the number of the AA prescriptions was observed during the 24-month post-AMS period. The LOS of the patients using any of the AA showed a post-AMS decline by 3.5 d. The patients’ LOS showed an average reduction of 0.12 (95% CI, 0.05–0.19, P=0.001) with the level and slope change of 0.18 (95% CI, 0.04–0.32, P=0.02) and 0.074 (95% CI, 0.02–0.12, P=0.002), respectively. Similarly, the percent RR reduced from 20.0 to 9.85 during the 24-month post-AMS period. The observed post-AMS mean monthly reduction of the RR for the patients using any AA was 0.38 (95% CI, 0.23–0.53, P<0.001) with the level and slope change of 0.33 (95% CI, 0.14–0.51, P=0.02) and 0.37 (95% CI, 0.16–0.58, P=0.001), respectively. Conclusion: The AMS program of a Malaysian tertiary care hospital was a coordinated set of interventions implemented by the AMS team of the hospital that comprised of the infectious diseases (ID) physician, clinical pharmacists and microbiologist. The successful implementation of the AMS program from May, 2014 to April, 2016 within the medical ward resulted in the drop of the number of AA prescriptions that sequentially resulted in the significant (P<0.05) post-AMS reduction of the LOS and the RR.


Author(s):  
Suchita Sachin Palve ◽  
Pallavi Sachin Chaudhari

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has put global health at stake by creating havoc all over the world, due to which the world, as well as health agencies, are experiencing the greatest challenges. This disease is a health emergency due to its high level of infectiousness and the non-availability of any specific treatment [1]. Objectives: To determine and compare the significance of physiological and haematological parameters in the diagnosis of COVID 19 infection and compare the association of physiological and haematological parameters among mild and severe COVID-19 patients. Methodology: The present comparative, observational study was carried out in a designated tertiary care hospital, where admission of COVID19 patients in Pune district, India. Various parameters like age, height, weight, BMI, various physiological variables, haematological parameters, and CRP levels were assessed among 202 Mild and 50 severe COVID 19 diagnosed patients on day one of the hospital's stays. Results: Pearson’s correlation coefficient showed a significant correlation among physiological and haematological variables compared to both groups, especially physiological parameters like SBP and DBP. The results showed that TLC, CRP, NLR, PLR, among COVID 19 patients cans work as important biomarkers to understand the disease prognosis. Conclusion: Study of physiological and haematological parameters and their interrelation will help in understanding the impact of COVID 19 infection on the reactive inflammatory responses and help in understanding the prognosis of the disease among mild and severe patients.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. e0215996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masahiro Ishikane ◽  
Kayoko Hayakawa ◽  
Satoshi Kutsuna ◽  
Nozomi Takeshita ◽  
Norio Ohmagari

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document