Tokushukai expands teleradiology, with phased deployment of a new system from November
Tokushukai is promoting teleradiology to provide accurate image interpretation at hospitals without specialist radiologists. Sapporo Tokushukai Hospital, which has offered remote interpretation for more than ten years, serves as the model. The Group plans to extend the new system introduced there last year to improve efficiency to other hospitals. Initial deployment in November will be at Tokyo Nishi Tokushukai Hospital and Chubu and Nanbu Tokushukai hospitals in Okinawa, which provide teleradiology for island hospitals, to improve the quality of care.
Sapporo Tokushukai Hospital as the model
Teleradiology allows a radiologist at a remote location to interpret images acquired using equipment such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) scanners.
For more than ten years, Sapporo Hospital has provided remote interpretation for Obihiro Tokushukai Hospital, Sapporo Minami Seishu Hospital and Shizunai Hospital in Hokkaido, helping maintain the quality of care in the region.
Growing demand eventually outstripped the existing system. In June 2011, the hospital introduced a new system planned by Tokushukai Information System, Inc. (TIS).
The new system incorporates a range of efficiency improvements that have substantially accelerated interpretation. Volumes have also increased: last year, two radiologists at Sapporo interpreted 26,543 examinations, one-third requested by other hospitals. By the end of August this year, they had already interpreted 18,990, a faster pace than the previous year.
“The new system has met almost all our requests,” says Ryuji Katada, Head of Radiology at the hospital.
In addition to faster communications, Katada requested three features: first, a single system to manage and interpret images from all hospitals, displaying their requests chronologically on one screen; second, access by radiologists to images on the requesting hospital's server rather than transferring them to Sapporo, making earlier images easier to view and limiting the spread of personal information; and third, digitisation of film images and paper examination requests.
These improvements have greatly reduced the practical difficulties of working remotely.
“Requests used to come by fax, which made them difficult to manage. Now we can manage them easily on the interpretation workstation,” Katada explains.
Close relationships bring out the strengths of a hospital group
With the new system's effectiveness confirmed, Tokushukai is expanding deployment. In November it plans to introduce the system at Tokyo Nishi, Chubu and Nanbu hospitals, which provide remote interpretation for island hospitals in Okinawa and Kagoshima.
Katada emphasises: “Work that requires cooperation, such as teleradiology, is precisely where Tokushukai's strengths as a group can be used.”
For example, Takashi Munakata, Director of Obihiro Hospital, previously worked at Sapporo and helped initiate its teleradiology service. “When Obihiro bought a CT scanner for its new building, I pressed them to let us have the image processing system that came with it. I wanted to go filmless,” recalls Katada. Sapporo has interpreted Obihiro's images remotely ever since.
These close relationships make it easy to telephone the requesting hospital when images are unclear, or for that hospital to ask questions about an interpretation.
“One of Tokushukai's strengths is that staff can form personal connections with colleagues at other hospitals through transfers and through the system of sending staff to help hospitals that are short-handed,” Katada says.
Source: Tokushukai Newspaper, 15 October 2012, No. 847