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Keywords:
Musculoskeletal joint, Musculoskeletal soft tissue, CT, MR, Absorptiometry / Bone densitometry, Efficacy studies, Cost-effectiveness, Education, Economics, Workforce
Authors:
S. Clifford, R. McCafferty, A. Sebastien, C. McCarthy; Dublin/IE
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2016/C-0514
Aims and objectives
Timely access to a wide variety of imaging modalities is essential for diagnosis and management.
It is useful to be able to predict the length of time a patient will be awaiting a particular scan,
as some treatments may be delayed until after a radiological diagnosis has been made.
We hypothesized that certain forms of imaging would be completed more promptly when compared with other imaging modalities,
as a result of supply and demand.
We also wanted to compare the performance of our institute with regard to waiting times for imaging modalities,
when compared with published guidelines [1,2].
Rheumatology is a specialty in which imaging investigations play an important part in diagnosis and management.
It was decided to draw our sample from an outpatient rheumatology department,
to represent a general medical specialty.
This study aimed to investigate the mean wait times for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),
computed tomography (CT),
dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA),
ultrasound (US) and plain radiograph (X-Ray) investigations requested by the rheumatology out-patient department at our institution over a three year period.
By investigating the waiting times for imaging modalities,
it is possible to determine the average waiting times for different types of radiology.
This information may help physicians in their clinical practices [3].
Information on imaging waiting times may also allow for more appropriate allocation of resources,
which is especially important in a value-conscious health care model [4].