Volume 11 Issue 1 (February) - Australasian Society for Ultrasound ...

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Saving time while
increasing revenue
University of Colorado Hospital increased
productivity with efficient protocol driven
ultrasound exams
Who/where
Julia A. Drose, BA, RDMS, RDCS, RVT
Associate Professor
Department of Radiology
Chief Sonographer
Division of Diagnostic Ultrasound
University of Colorado
Health Sciences Center
Denver
Challenge
Increase productivity and improve
efficiencies in performing patient
ultrasound exams
Solution
The new ‘Protocols’ feature on the
Philips iU22 ultrasound system
Top medical professionals, superior medicine
and progressive change make the University of
Colorado Hospital one of the leading hospitals
in the nation. Consistently ranked among the
top hospitals in the country by U.S. News &
World Report’s annual survey of “America’s Best
Hospitals,” University of Colorado Hospital
is internationally respected for its exceptional
teams of medical specialists.
In keeping with the University of Colorado’s
mission of being a state-of-the-art teaching and
research hospital by delivering comprehensive
medical care, the Ultrasound Division
sought to increase productivity and improve
efficiencies in performing patient ultrasound
exams.
Previously, the department had in place a
procedure manual that ensured all images
necessary for accreditation and billing of a
specific exam were being acquired. However,
there were a number of issues within the
department related to consistency in image
acquisition, annotation, and calculation of
measurements. Each sonographer had his
or her own way of acquiring images, which
ranged from the order in which images were
taken to the number of images acquired for a
specific exam. As a result, valuable PACS space
was wasted, doctors questioned the accuracy
of some images, and the lack of consistency in
acquired images was difficult for clinicians to
ascertain the data being presented. This also
made pulling images for accreditation cases
problematic since there was inconsistency in the
acquired images.
Annotation and calculation of measurements
also were a challenge. Sonographers were
annotating in a variety of ways, meaning
radiologists were spending time deciphering
codes, as well as evaluating and trying to
compare different views of the pathology. The
location of measurements and the number
of measurements taken also varied among
sonographers.
Since the University of Colorado Hospital,
Division of Ultrasound has a large sonographer
training program, inconsistency among
sonographers also proved very confusing to
our students. The 14 sonographers on staff
presented a broad variety of interpretations
regarding what the procedure manual was
requiring. This made it difficult for the students
to understand exactly what constituted a
complete and correct exam.
“Philips’ Protocols feature is helping University of Colorado
Hospital meet its primary objective to deliver comprehensive,
quality medical care.”
­52 ASUM Ultrasound Bulletin 2008 February 11 (1)