{"title":"Teleradiology-Based Referrals for Patients with Gastroenterological Diseases Between Tertiary and Regional Hospitals: A Hospital-to-Hospital Approach","authors":"Kosuke Suzuki, Hiroaki Saito, Yoshika Saito, Akashi Endo, Daichi Togo, Risa Hanada, Rie Iwaya, Toshinori Sato, Kei Niida, Ryuta Suzuki, Junichi Togashi, Satoshi Ito, Yukari Tanaka, Yoshitaka Nawata, Kimihiro Igarashi, Hidetaka Hamamoto, Akihiko Ozaki, Tetsuya Tanimoto, Yasuteru Shimamura, Shunichi Sugawara, Masaki Nakashima, Toru Okuzono, Masato Nakahori, Akimichi Chonan, Tomoki Matsuda","doi":"10.1007/s10278-024-01264-x","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Teleradiology is recognized for fostering collaboration between regional and tertiary hospitals. However, its application in gastroenterological diseases remains underexplored. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of teleradiology in improving gastroenterological care. This retrospective study analyzed patients with gastroenterological diseases in a tertiary hospital who were referred from a regional hospital using a cloud-based radiology image-sharing system between July 2020 and June 2023. Our primary focus was to conduct a descriptive statistical analysis to evaluate patient characteristics and the referral process and analyze the timeframes from referral to transfer and from the start of treatment to discharge and the outcomes. We analyzed 56 patients, with 45 (80.4%) presenting hepatobiliary pancreatic disease. The most frequent condition was common bile duct stones (17 cases). Forty-nine cases were transferred for inpatient treatments, four underwent endoscopic examinations as outpatients, and two had imaging consultation without subsequent hospital visits. On referral day, 16 patients were transferred, and the remaining 33 (67.3%) were placed on a waiting list starting from the subsequent day. The median time from referral to admission was 1 day (range: 0–14 days), and the median time from referral to treatment was 2 days (range: 0–14 days). Remote image-sharing systems ensure accurate imaging at referral, preventing care delays. In collaboration with regional and tertiary hospitals, teleradiology may also be useful for gastroenterological diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":50214,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Digital Imaging","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Digital Imaging","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10278-024-01264-x","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"RADIOLOGY, NUCLEAR MEDICINE & MEDICAL IMAGING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Teleradiology is recognized for fostering collaboration between regional and tertiary hospitals. However, its application in gastroenterological diseases remains underexplored. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of teleradiology in improving gastroenterological care. This retrospective study analyzed patients with gastroenterological diseases in a tertiary hospital who were referred from a regional hospital using a cloud-based radiology image-sharing system between July 2020 and June 2023. Our primary focus was to conduct a descriptive statistical analysis to evaluate patient characteristics and the referral process and analyze the timeframes from referral to transfer and from the start of treatment to discharge and the outcomes. We analyzed 56 patients, with 45 (80.4%) presenting hepatobiliary pancreatic disease. The most frequent condition was common bile duct stones (17 cases). Forty-nine cases were transferred for inpatient treatments, four underwent endoscopic examinations as outpatients, and two had imaging consultation without subsequent hospital visits. On referral day, 16 patients were transferred, and the remaining 33 (67.3%) were placed on a waiting list starting from the subsequent day. The median time from referral to admission was 1 day (range: 0–14 days), and the median time from referral to treatment was 2 days (range: 0–14 days). Remote image-sharing systems ensure accurate imaging at referral, preventing care delays. In collaboration with regional and tertiary hospitals, teleradiology may also be useful for gastroenterological diseases.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Digital Imaging (JDI) is the official peer-reviewed journal of the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM). JDI’s goal is to enhance the exchange of knowledge encompassed by the general topic of Imaging Informatics in Medicine such as research and practice in clinical, engineering, and information technologies and techniques in all medical imaging environments. JDI topics are of interest to researchers, developers, educators, physicians, and imaging informatics professionals.
Suggested Topics
PACS and component systems; imaging informatics for the enterprise; image-enabled electronic medical records; RIS and HIS; digital image acquisition; image processing; image data compression; 3D, visualization, and multimedia; speech recognition; computer-aided diagnosis; facilities design; imaging vocabularies and ontologies; Transforming the Radiological Interpretation Process (TRIP™); DICOM and other standards; workflow and process modeling and simulation; quality assurance; archive integrity and security; teleradiology; digital mammography; and radiological informatics education.