Trend in radiologist workload compared to number of admissions in the emergency department

Christine Dan Lantsman, Yiftach Barash, Eyal Klang, Larisa Guranda, Eli Konen, Noam Tau

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Introduction: Recent years have shown an increase in radiologists’ workload, both during regular working hours and during on-call. We aimed to quantify the 8-year trend in on-call workload in a large tertiary academic medical center, and to compare the workload growth rate to emergency department (ED) visits growth rate during the same period. Methods: The number of computed tomography (CT) studies during on-call hours (weekdays between 3.00 p.m. and 8.00 a.m., and weekends) between 2012 and 2019 was extracted from our hospital's Radiologic Information System. To estimate the on-call workload, all studies were converted to relative value units (RVUs) using the US Medicare physician reimbursement tables. The Kendall's tau b test was used to assess the temporal trend. Results: Overall, on-call CT RVUs increased by 52% (Kendall's tau b = 0.776, p = 0.001) while ED visit rate grew by 23% with a weaker correlation coefficient (Kendall's tau b = 0.323, p = 0.009). RVUs of brain CT, the most prevalent examination type, increased by 33%, while abdominal CT, the second most prevalent examination, increased by 70%. Thoracic-lumbar spine CT examinations increased by 1375% and head and neck CT angiography examinations (stroke protocol and CT-Venography) grew by 287%. Conclusions: Radiologists’ on-call workload more than doubled the growth rate of ED visits over an 8-year period. Radiologists, radiographers and on-call ED workforce should be adjusted to accommodate these evolving changes to enhance quality and safety of patient care and to avoid caregivers’ burnout.

Original languageEnglish
Article number110195
JournalEuropean Journal of Radiology
Volume149
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Computed tomography
  • Emergency care
  • Workloads

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