Does improved access to diagnostic imaging results reduce hospital length of stay? A retrospective study.

Hurlen, Petter

Østbye, Truls

Borthne, Arne S

Gulbrandsen, Pål

England

2011-06-21T17:29:39Z

2010-09-06

BACKGROUND: One year after the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to support diagnostic imaging at our hospital, clinicians had faster and better access to radiology reports and images; direct access to Computed Tomography (CT) reports in the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) was particularly popular. The objective of this study was to determine whether improvements in radiology reporting and clinical access to diagnostic imaging information one year after the ICT introduction were associated with a reduction in the length of patients' hospital stays (LOS). METHODS: Data describing hospital stays and diagnostic imaging were collected retrospectively from the EMR during periods of equal duration before and one year after the introduction of ICT. The post-ICT period was chosen because of the documented improvement in clinical access to radiology results during that period. The data set was randomly split into an exploratory part used to establish the hypotheses, and a confirmatory part. The data was used to compare the pre-ICT and post-ICT status, but also to compare differences between groups. RESULTS: There was no general reduction in LOS one year after ICT introduction. However, there was a 25% reduction for one group - patients with CT scans. This group was heterogeneous, covering 445 different primary discharge diagnoses. Analyses of subgroups were performed to reduce the impact of this divergence. CONCLUSION: Our results did not indicate that improved access to radiology results reduced the patients' LOS. There was, however, a significant reduction in LOS for patients undergoing CT scans. Given the clinicians' interest in CT reports and the results of the subgroup analyses, it is likely that improved access to CT reports contributed to this reduction.

Version of Record

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20819224

1472-6963-10-262

1472-6963

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/4367

eng

en_US

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

BMC Health Serv Res

10.1186/1472-6963-10-262

Bmc Health Services Research

Computer Communication Networks

Databases, Factual

Diagnostic Imaging

Electronic Health Records

Female

Hospital Information Systems

Humans

Length of Stay

Male

Norway

Outcome Assessment (Health Care)

Professional Competence

Program Evaluation

Radiology Information Systems

Retrospective Studies

Risk Assessment

Time Factors

Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Does improved access to diagnostic imaging results reduce hospital length of stay? A retrospective study.

Journal article

2010-9-6

10

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20819224

262

Clinical Science Departments

Community and Family Medicine

Duke

Duke Cancer Institute

Global Health Institute

Institutes and Centers

Institutes and Provost's Academic Units

School of Medicine

School of Nursing

School of Nursing - Secondary Group

University Institutes and Centers

Published online

10