Can radiologists take the front seat in patient care?
I believe we can by doing the following:
1) Start playing central role in decision making in terms of imaging, we should be telling the clinicians about appropriate imaging required rather than waiting for his orders.
2) Communicate our findings to our colleagues verbally and in case discussions to prevent radiology being seen as a commodity rather than a specialty. Lets be Specialists not image readers.
3) More and more of us should subspecialise and make our reports valuable aid for the clinicians. We should be able to tell them more than they already know.
4) Increasing participation in interventional radiology will also help.
5) Following up our diagnosis with pathologists and findings with surgeons will help us stay at our front seat as well.
6) Upgrading ourselves at pace with the technology so that we continue to have that edge in terms of image interpretation.
7) Participating in medical school education.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think radiologists are back seat drivers or do you think they can TAKE THE FRONT SEAT?
Can radiologists take the front seat in patient care?
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Reviewed by Sumer Sethi
on
Monday, August 22, 2011
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Sumer Sethi
Unique blend of academic excellence and entrepreneurship, heading leading firms in India- Teleradiology Providers, pioneering company providing teleradiology services and DAMS (Delhi Academy of Medical Sciences) Premier test preparation institute in India for MD/MS/MCI preparation. He has also been an invited faculty member at various conferences, including Teleradiology in IRIA 2008 and 2011, Hospital Build Middle East, Congress of the Brain Tumor Radiology in Neuro-oncology Society. Dr. Sethi is Editor-in-Chief of Internet Journal of Radiology. He has a keen interest in Web 2.0 technologies and in maintaining his famous radiology blog, which has been featured in multiple international journals.
1 comment:
Of course you're so right with what we should do. In hospitals it's comparatively easy to tell the clinician which modality is the best and bring them to using it (because I am the one who decides if my technologist will run that CT or not), though I have colleagues who just do whatever the clinicians want just to avoid discussions and get back to sleep as soon as possible.
But what about those radiologists outside the hospitals? If they tell the clinician that their imaging order is just crap (however gentle you try to do it) the clinician in question will just send his patients to someone who does what he wants. And the poor radiologist who just wanted the best for the patient will lose money. So how can you find a solution there?
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