Secure Mobile App for Imaging Report Review
AlertView® makes healthcare more efficient by eliminating unnecessary delays. The AlertView app is a new capability of Nova RIS™ that notifies referring physicians, radiologists or cardiologists that STAT or routine results are ready for evaluation.
No matter where they are, they can review with one tap on the text message. This type of mobile communication and collaboration improves patient outcomes while minimizing disruptions for primary care physicians and hospital staff.
Why Your Facility Needs AlertView®
With any radiology practice, one thing is certain: maximum clinician efficiency and productivity translate to maximum profitability. When radiologists are allowed to complete and pass along the many imaging reports they encounter each day with minimal interruption, distraction or delay, workflow is enhanced and profitability increased, always to the satisfaction of radiology managers, CFOs and CEOs.
When imaging reports are sent to referring physicians without delay, everyone wins. Perhaps more important, minimizing interruptions logically minimizes physician errors, resulting in superior patient care and improved outcomes. Unfortunately, distractions remain very much a part of everyday life for many radiologists.
Historically, a major workflow impediment has been telephone calls coming in to radiology reporting rooms, which interrupt the work of radiologists 90 percent of the time and may decrease reporting accuracy significantly, according to researchers. Each week, radiologists field scores of calls in reporting rooms everywhere. Dr. Christopher Watura and his colleagues wrote in Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology that fewer than one in 10 inbound calls are deemed appropriate interruptions to the work ow of radiologists who must eld them, often while in the midst of important and even potentially lifesaving clinical work.
In their five-day study, which evaluated 288 recorded calls and 23 returned forms, Dr. Watura and his team found that 92 percent of calls interrupted the reporting tasks of radiologists. More than half were considered appropriate by radiologists, however the rest of those interruptions were deemed inappropriate and included inquiries about study reports.
“It is part of everyday practice for healthcare professionals to interrupt one another to communicate urgent information. When an individual’s attention is diverted from the primary task, memory of the primary task begins to decay while processing the interrupting task. After returning to complete the remainder of the primary task, the likelihood of making an error is increased.”
Christopher Watura, MBChB, BSc (Hons), Dominic Blunt, MBBS, MRCP, FRCR, Dimitri Amiras, MBBS, BSc, FRCR
Benefits of AlertView®
Accelerate healthcare
Reduce radiologist interruptions
Improve patient outcomes
There’s another important interruption, however, one that is often overlooked: radiologists often must call referrers to notify them that a report has been completed. With each call comes a departure from work and the possibility that a radiologist will remain on hold until the referrer comes to the phone—and only if the clinician is reached and available.If they are not able to connect, it will mean yet another inbound return call to the radiologist.
The app’s unique features include:
- A secure login with TouchID
- A dynamic patient list that enables quicksearches
- Extensive filtering (including modality and time filters)
- A convenient basic report view as well as an in-depth full report view
- Display of all key images in the study
- Enhanced data security through deep linking. No PHI is stored on their mobile viewing device.
The app is first protected by the mobile phone user’s passwords and fingerprints, and then protected further with a quick security question just prior to opening your first study.
After that, the server recognizes that device as safe and the referring physician can access studies with a simple swipe and a fingerprint scan.
Getting Started with AlertView®
Required Software
Enterprise Nova RIS or Reports Distribution Manager 8.6.7 (or higher) so that it works with NovaPro and other sites. Available for iOS app only at product introduction. Works with iPhone and iPad.
- iPad users will need to use iMessage via WiFi unless their iPad also has a cellular network account, in which case it will operate the same as an iPhone.
- Medical Group users can access reports for patients in any medical group for which the MD is a member
- Printing is done via the Print screen to wireless enabled devices
User Interface
Hotlink Messages Provide Instant Access to Report
- The referring MD receives a text alert, they click on the link, and are instantly viewing the report in AlertView without having to log in.
Search the patient to view report
- Upon receiving a call from a patient the referring physician needs to see the report to remind him of the details. Users log into the AlertView app, search for the patient, and view the report.