The large volume of radiologist reporting-backlogs is becoming an “urgent global issue,” researchers asserted in a study published Nov. 28 in Clinical Imaging [1].
Demand for radiologic exams is “increasingly exponentially” due to technological advances, an aging population, the growing prevalence of chronic disease, and favorable cancer survival trends. Anecdotal reports indicate that radiologists are struggling to keep up, but researchers sought to better quantify this challenge.
Toma S. Omofoye, MD, and colleagues did so by administering an online survey to radiologists across the globe. A total of 49 physicians responded, representing 16 countries on six continents. Almost half of facilities reported radiologist vacancies, while 68% were dealing with unreported imaging exams.
“Healthcare's reliance on diagnostic imaging is expected to continue to grow. Globally, radiology imaging examinations are outpacing radiologist reporting, resulting in a widespread problem of unreported imaging exams,” Omofoye, with the Department of Breast Imaging at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and co-authors concluded. “The persistence of large-volume reporting backlogs is an urgent global issue and further research is needed to assess the problem and underlying factors.”
The anonymous 27-question survey was distributed to 106 radiologists around the world between March and December of 2021. A global group of radiologists (affiliated through professional societies) helped assemble the survey and provided insight into practices differences in other countries.
Survey questions keyed in on three different types of exams, with backlogs reported for brain/head CT (48% of facilities), chest CT (50%), and chest X-ray (59%) at seven days. The problem persisted at the six-month mark for 20%, 23% and 32% of facilities, respectively. When present, the mean proportion of backlog (range) at seven days was 17% (1% to 96%) for brain/head CT, 18% (3% to 82%) for chest CT and 22% (1% to 99%) for chest radiographs.
“To our knowledge, this represents the first attempt to characterize global radiology study volumes and interpretation backlogs,” the authors noted. “In the future, efforts to acquire larger sample sizes would further increase generalizability and allow for subgroup analyses to evaluate potential contributing factors.”
Read much more in Clinical Imaging at the link below.
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.