A governmental healthcare provider in Canada has begun reviewing mammography results from around 3,000 patients imaged over the past three years.
Central Health, which serves around 20% of the population in the country’s easternmost province, Newfoundland and Labrador, says the problem lies not with care quality or imaging equipment but with monitors at three of nine workstations.
The three deficient workstations have a screen resolution of three megapixels. Health Canada and the Canadian Association of Radiologists (CAR) both call for mammograms to be read on workstations with two monitors, both of which need to have screen resolution of at least five megapixels.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) lays out the details in a news article posted Aug. 24.
‘Low Risk to Patients’
CBC reporter Darrell Roberts quotes Central Health CEO Andrée Robichaud, whose team had, as of press time, reviewed a sample set of a few hundred cases and found two or three “potential discrepancies or deferring interpretations.”
A subsequent update from Central Health posted Aug. 29 relays that, as of Aug. 26, some 837 records had been reviewed and four problematic exams identified.
In the CBC item, Robichaud says the review to date “suggests the occurrence presents a low risk to patients.”
She adds that Central Health has, “out of an abundance of caution,” hired an external radiologist to review all images read on the three-megapixel monitors from Nov. 1, 2019, to Aug. 19 of this year.
Reporter Roberts also quotes the acting chief of staff for Central Health, Dr. Mark Spurrell, who says the organization has launched an internal review to “examine mammography viewing practices and prevent future incidents.”
“Scheduled mammograms are still proceeding in Central Health,” Roberts reports, “and Spurrell said those images will be read using the correct viewing stations.”
‘We Need to Look at Process and We Need to Look at Our Professionals’
The CBC article further notes that Central Health hasn’t yet figured out how or why the substandard workstations were in use for at least three years before anyone noticed they weren’t up to spec.
The problem may have had to do with radiologists working from home—and may have continued unabated if not for a Central Health employee who spoke up, the item suggests.
“Our main concern right now is around disclosure,” CEO Robichaud remarks. “We need to look at process and we need to look at our professionals.”
Evidently as a result of the discovery, the other three health authorities in Newfoundland/Labrador—Eastern Health, Western Health and Labrador-Grenfell Health—have announced mammography reviews of their own.
There’s more. Read the full Aug. 24 CBC news item here and the Aug. 29 update from Central Health here.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.