Module 05 Project - Final Project Submission

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Running head: USES OF TECHNOLOGY IN RADIOLOGY

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USES OF TECHNOLOGY IN RADIOLOGY

Uses of Technology in Radiology

Brooklyn Maasch

9/13/2020

There has been a revolution in the field of medicine where the internet and digitization of medical information have been playing a key role. Within the past few years, there have been profound changes in communication and computer technology, which has pushed imaging informatics boundaries beyond traditional borders. This has been attributed to the introduction of new technologies like social networks and wireless internet networks in medical imaging. As a result, there have been several improvements regarding healthcare delivery and information management in radiology, which his section aims to address.

Improving healthcare delivery

In order to reach universal health coverage, people-centered and integrated health services are very crucial. With IT, physicians are able to view inside the body with clarity and can have an idea of the condition of an affected organ, etc. information technology has most importantly enabled the provision of treatment with less-invasive mechanisms, which has led to more comfortable care and better treatments for the patients. The lack of invasions ensures fewer complications, shorter stays in hospitals or no surgeries, and incisions (Brody, 2020).

Recently, there has been a rapid growth in mobile devices' popularity and the vast availability of mobile applications that has led to the huge development of the new e-Health services. In radiology, the daily operations are integrated with digital tools due to mobile computing software and hardware access and availability. There has been a digital revolution from past technology such as mailing lists, newsgroups, and the internet with websites. In today’s world, patients can share their health information with people of their choice via social media platforms and other applications. Also, due to i-Portals, the patients can be able to schedule virtual consultations and gain access to their electronic medical record (EMR, EHR), which is inclusive of radiological reports and images. Internet portals are paving the way for patients to be involved in the management of their health process, which will change the means of provision of radiological services. Moreover, more improved care can be expected via a personalized electronic key that allows patients to authorize access to their data to a healthcare professional of choice despite the time and place (Brody, 2020).

Moreover, healthcare providers are utilizing social media platforms for professional usage, even though there still isn't a public platform developed specifically for this purpose. Some of the most popular social media platforms are Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Therefore, most professionals use social media for professional and private reasons. The professional purpose is viewed as a tool to maximize the perceived visibility and value of the radiologist. Also, the social media platforms can enable a radiologist to connect with his patients and give general information with regard to radiology and to obtain substantial feedback from them concerning their perceptions and views on radiological services and examinations. This is due to the rising number of patients who search the internet for health information. Advice and social support. Some radiologists also discuss some medical images via WhatsApp with their fellow colleagues (Patel et al., 2017).

Particularly in cases of emergency, it is much easier for health professionals to deliver healthcare via public platforms due to the short period of time used to obtain professional advice. Patients can also provide feedback and ask questions concerning their health. Therefore, the use of public platforms that follow the required legal framework is critical in order to secure the patient’s health information (Patel et al., 2017).

Also, these technological advancements have enhanced the diagnosis interpretation. The results are now reaching the ordering physician within a short period of time, which means that the patient is able to get treatment much sooner. Therefore, there is the prevention of spreading diseases; hence many lives are saved. Improved imaging gives fast, comprehensive information that lays a foundation for an accurate diagnosis and allows physicians to build an effective treatment plan.

Technological change has also been steered by the desire and ability to transfer images digitally regardless of time and location, which has led to the emergence of different innovative solutions. One of these significant innovations is cloud computing, which enables faster access to health information and images for radiologists referring to other healthcare professionals and especially the patients. Cloud computing has greatly developed due to the availability of high-speed networks, affordable computers and storage systems, and the vast adoption of hardware virtualization and service-oriented architecture. Radiologists have started integrating cloud computing in some of their operational and clinical applications. Cloud computing comes in three forms: the private cloud that is used solely for one company, internally or third-party managed and is hosted internally or externally; a public cloud is where the services are provided over a network that is open for public utilization, and hybrid cloud which combines both private and public services but some of these services in these environments can interface each other. Distinct entities are used in this case that is bound together, thus giving the advantages of multiple deployment models. Radiologists and other clinicians can interpret and review images locally, and other previous images can be retrieved according to demand from the cloud when examinations are scheduled (Noh et al., 2020).

Since patients are becoming empowered into tracking and managing their health, healthcare professionals are creating new services to support the patients in this process. Healthcare delivery is even more enhanced via prioritizing the patients and giving them the power and authority to grant access to their data to their choice clinicians. Therefore, medical decision-making will be based on individual patients and their feedback in regard to a certain disease. The decisions will be made depending on a combination of morphologic information from medical images with genomic data. This is known as radiogenomics, which is defined as the process of correlation of data collected from radiomics with the genetic information of a patient or disease. Healthcare will be improved in terms of moving radiology from a majorly diagnostic to a more treatment-related type of imaging specialty (Bodalal et al., 2019).

Another IT tool is the use of image-guided radiation therapy, which can enable repeated imaging performance during treatment for identification of changes in size and location of tumors; thus, adjustment of the position and radiation dose of the patient can be made. Therefore, the radiation treatment's accuracy is enhanced, and the tissue volume to be treated is reduced. This and other image-guided methods will enable precision and less-invasive interventions, which will help boost radiology as long as radiologists and other clinicians are able to collaborate more intensely.

Information Management

Information management refers to the process through which crucial information is given to decision-makers in a timely manner. Information technology can be utilized by a radiologist in the manager role in four major ways: workflow management, interpretation of images, communication with clinicians, and treatment of patients. Due to the constantly increasing workload, IT can be utilized in the monitoring of work processes, optimization of workflow, and simplification of procedures. There is enhanced reliability, consistency, and reproducibility of digital imaging regarding image capture and storage. This basically entails that the clinicians can examine a larger number of patients in a specified time, and the images can be displayed and reviewed faster and more consistently by more individuals. There is the removal of geographical constraints and chemical processing, as well as the improvement of information content due to a larger dynamic range. Also, the intertwining of automated imaging results and quantitative “omics” data with crucial information could optimize the given information in the radiology report.

Also, due to the use of big data in the radiology field, radiologists should implement artificial intelligence to ease the process of enriching reports with big data. It should also enable the selection of more personalized or less-invasive treatment options for the patient. Moreover, IT can be used to facilitate the communication between radiologists, clinicians, and patients as well as more direct communication between radiologists and patients. The ease of communication between patients and radiologists could create a larger awareness of the radiologist’s vital role, especially with the accessibility to radiology reports. Also, the utilization of multimedia reports should also be put into consideration where information can be displayed in a more interactive and structured manner. This will necessitate the maximum interoperability between the availability of important patient data and health data systems. Also, the patient should own his data and permit whomever they choose to use it. Also, the healthcare centers and policymakers should modify their decisions and vision and relate them to this field’s key area. The data sharing and transfer should have the right privacy and security protections implemented, and new policy guidelines for national and international collaboration should be created. Therefore, the entire healthcare delivery model can be patient-centric (Syed & Zoga, 2018, November).

The full digital department has become a reality, and standards have been created to transfer digital images for research and diagnostic purposes electronically. Also, radiologists have been able to provide reading services at long distances via teleradiology. However, this is just the beginning, and the future holds very many expectations for IT advancements that are oriented towards the patients.

References

Bodalal, Z., Trebeschi, S., Nguyen-Kim, T. D. L., Schats, W., & Beets-Tan, R. (2019). Radiogenomics: bridging imaging and genomics. Abdominal Radiology, 44(6), 1960-1984.

Brody, W. R. (2020). Radiology and Technology: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going—And Why I Am So Excited.

Noh, S. H., Lee, C., Kim, J., Kim, S., Kim, T. H., Jeong, C. W., ... & Yoon, K. H. (2020). Connected Radiology Care System Environment for Untact Medical Service based on the cloud. In Proceedings of the Korean Society of Computer Information Conference (pp. 609-612). Korean Society of Computer Information.

Patel, S. S., Hawkins, C. M., Rawson, J. V., & Hoang, J. K. (2017). Professional social networking in radiology: who is there, and what are they doing? Academic radiology, 24(5), 574-579.

Syed, A. B., & Zoga, A. C. (2018, November). Artificial intelligence in radiology: current technology and future directions. In Seminars in musculoskeletal radiology (Vol. 22, No. 05, pp. 540-545). Thieme Medical Publishers.