If your job involves managing ultrasound protocols across multiple hospital sites, you already know the drill: Download the configuration to a USB, travel - sometimes by foot, sometimes by car - to the next location, wait for the machine to be free, upload the update, restart, repeat.
It’s tedious. It’s manual. And the time adds up fast.
How long does it really take to update your ultrasound protocols?
Ultrasound departments are under constant pressure to do more with less. And while ultrasound protocol updates may not seem like a major time sink, that’s often because the inefficiencies are so deeply embedded in existing ultrasound workflow that no one questions them.
So, here’s a challenge: Map out your next protocol update. Literally. Open your preferred navigation app, drop pins on all your facilities, and estimate the time for each leg of the journey. This should include driving, parking, badging in, walking to the ultrasound suite, waiting for the machine to be free, uploading the update, and troubleshooting any issues. Don’t forget to account for the number of devices at each facility.
How many hours does it take to push one configuration change across your network? The total may surprise you.
Every organization is different. Your number of devices, number of sites, traffic patterns, and available staffing all play a role. That’s why it’s worth doing your own, custom efficiency discovery.
Tip: Build a spreadsheet to estimate the total hours your organization spends on protocol updates or connect with your GE HealthCare representative to work through it together.
SLUHN did the math on its ultrasound protocols
The time it takes to apply ultrasound protocol updates across a geographically dispersed healthcare organization can be particularly significant. St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN), a 13-hospital system spread across 50 miles in eastern Pennsylvania, did the math.
Manually performing updates took an average 6 minutes and 48 seconds on each of the facility’s 32 Radiology systems – adding up to more than 3 hours of machine updates. A single protocol update also required approximately 210 miles or 5 hours and 39 minutes of driving to travel to all facilities – which can have significant impact on department’s budget. Adding to travel tie to each facility, a single round of updates to the system’s fleet of ultrasound systems took a total of 15 hours.1
And those updates were only happening once or twice a year because the manual process was such a burden.
Case Study: St. Luke's University Health Network maximizes ultrasound resource management
Remote deployment of ultrasound protocols
Imagine cutting a 15-hour process down to just 7 minutes.
That’s what SLUHN experienced after switching to VerisoundTM Fleet, a cloud-based ultrasound technology solution that lets protocol managers push updates to every ultrasound device in a network from a single web-based portal. No USBs. No driving. No lost time.
With Verisound Fleet, the updated configuration is built one time and remotely deployed across the entire network. Sonographers receive a pop-up notification on their console and can accept the update when ready.
Ultrasound technology enables consistency
Time isn’t the only consideration. When ultrasound protocol updates are easy, they can happen more often. That means sonographers aren’t left working off outdated protocols, and can suggest updates that are easily added. It means radiologists can request changes to reporting templates and quickly see them reflected system wide. It means new devices and staff can be up and running in hours, not weeks.
And most importantly, it means that no matter where a scan happens, you can be confident that consistent, high-quality protocols are in use.
SLUHN went from updating ultrasound protocols once or twice a year to pushing changes one to two times a month, ensuring imaging consistency across all devices and keeping up with evolving clinical needs.
What could you do instead?
Let’s say you recovered 50, 75, or even 100 hours a year across your team by removing travel time, manual configuration, and device downtime for updates. What would you do with that time?
With Verisound Fleet, you can eliminate the manual steps that slow down ultrasound protocol updates—no more travel, no more USBs, no more waiting. Just fast, remote deployment from a single web-based portal.
How many hours will you get back?
Start the conversation with a GE HealthCare representative and discover how Verisound Fleet can transform your workflow.
REFERENCES
- Observational field notes collected by a senior member of SUAZIO research and consulting agency.
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