Assessing radiology departments’ readiness for future COVID-19 outbreaks: 3 key gaps
Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, imaging departments may still be facing gaps in their readiness for further outbreaks, according to new survey data published Tuesday in Radiology.
Back in March 2020, the Radiological Society of North American released a set of guiding principles to help prepare providers for the public health crisis. Devised by a panel of experts in the field, the advice was “widely followed” during the first wave, experts noted.
Researchers recently set out to test adherence, surveying 40 imaging centers in France to see whether such principles were followed during the first COVID-19 peak. They found clear gaps, with three areas warranting further attention.
“While substantial modifications of radiology department organization[s] to face COVID-19 pandemic were applied, remote reading, dedicated devices and team training would have to be improved in the event of another outbreak,” Guillaume Herpe, MD, PhD, with the emergency radiology unit at Poitiers University Hospital in France, and co-authors wrote March 8.
Researchers sent the survey to a wide range of institutions for the study, including teaching and general hospitals, that treat an array of populations. A total of 38 centers responded (95%), with a solid adherence rate for 7 of the 10 guiding principles. Three pieces of advice were not widely applied, utilized by less than 50% of institutions. Those included an insufficient number of providers offering (1) a trained COVID-19 radiology staff; (2) ultrasound, X-Ray and MRI services dedicated to the disease; and (3) an option for radiologists to read remotely.
Herpe et al. noted that the latter might be explained by a lack of time to mobilize the required resources. In a corresponding editorial, one expert said those with remote reading will be well-positioned for further crises.
“Home PACS workstations have proven very beneficial for many radiology departments. They have allowed diagnostic radiologists to continue to work from home during COVID-19 quarantine and to reduce crowding in the reading room during periods when there is a COVID-19 surge,” Michael Tuite, MD, with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine’s Department of Radiology, wrote Tuesday. “These departments will be much better prepared if, or when, we have a future pandemic.”
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.