Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an essential diagnostic tool in radiology that has revolutionized the field of medical imaging. However, as imaging continues to advance, the complexity of MRI workflows and the demands of managing a radiology department continues to increase as well.

Balancing the needs of both the patient and radiology staff, along with managing additional factors of interconnectivity across a health system, is essential to driving efficiency in a radiology department. Increasing MRI efficiency specifically can help to improve clinical insights, optimize system utilization, and maintain state-of-the-art technology.

Increasing efficiency in the radiology department

Driving the success of a radiology department requires a holistic approach that combines effective management practices with modern innovations. Due to the current challenges facing healthcare administrators—such as staffing shortages, burnout, and increasing demands for medical imaging^[1]—these professionals are searching for improved efficiencies and exploring potential solutions to address them. By striking the right balance between stakeholder needs, workflow innovation, and technology advancements, healthcare providers can continue to provide high-quality care while driving efficiency and improving patient outcomes.

Innovative workflow solutions, advanced clinical applications, and technology can help meet the needs of the radiology department, the patients they serve, and the entire health system. Innovations like artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced imaging technology can be integrated into the radiology department to help amplify their capabilities and support their staff in delivering high-quality patient care. Industry partners such as GE HealthCare are committed to providing innovative and intuitive solutions to improve the overall efficiency and productivity of MRI.

“We’re helping our radiology partners balance the needs of MRI stakeholders,” said Ioannis Panagiotelis, PhD, Chief Marketing Officer, MR at GE HealthCare, “including radiologists, technologists, patients, and referring physicians by creating a more efficient and automated workflow. The goal is to provide clinicians access to the clinical insights they need to impact patient outcomes. Leveraging the power of AI technologies and advanced clinical applications to streamline operations and revolutionize image processing can help us achieve this.”

Driving efficiency for MRI and radiology staff

With a focus on staff expertise and efficient management, radiology departments can meet the growing demands of the healthcare industry and significantly impact patients’ well-being. Integrating modern technologies and management practices is crucial to the continued success of radiology departments; those that embrace this approach will be well-positioned to lead the way in improving patient outcomes.

The clinical workflow in MRI can be complex and highly demanding of technologists, who may have varying levels of experience within a particular health system or industry. Faced with increasing demands for imaging services, technologists of all skill levels need the ability to perform all imaging exams in MRI. Innovative new tools have been developed to guide the technologist as they perform these exams.

GE HealthCare recently introduced a contemporary user interface across its MRI systems that facilitates the MRI workflow from setup through reporting. This interface is designed to anticipate user actions and drive consistency in quality, regardless of the user’s experience level. Impacting every step of the imaging process, this innovative interface incorporates workflow automations and advanced AI tools to reduce clicks, remove the learning curve, and support consistent, high-quality imaging.

Cost pressures and resource scarcity have also intensified the need for greater collaboration across multiple service sites and access to in-house expertise. Leveraging a real-time, virtual solution enables MRI teams to collaborate more effectively within a single hospital or across multiple locations. This timely assistance may help avoid quality issues, rework, and other delays in the exam workflow.

With real-time peer-to-peer collaboration, technologists of all experience levels can connect with peers or clinicians and potentially avoid the disruption of rescheduling patients or the need to send patients to another site because their exam could not be completed.

Advancing clinical insights with AI to improve patient outcomes

Clinicians rely on MRI for information-rich images of the human body without ionizing radiation. With ongoing advances in hardware and software, MRI continues to improve image quality, acquisition speed, and diagnostic accuracy. One of the most exciting recent developments in MRI software technology is the use of deep learning algorithms for image reconstruction, which has the potential to significantly enhance image quality and reduce scan times.

MRI deep-learning image reconstruction is a trained AI algorithm that leverages raw MRI acquisition data to reconstruct sharper images and can achieve a higher signal-to-noise ratio with user-selectable improvement levels. AI and advanced clinical applications like these continue to expand capabilities in MRI, offering clinicians the insights they need to improve patient outcomes with accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Optimizing MRI system performance

Advances in MRI technology have improved the accuracy, speed, and accessibility of MRI imaging, which has resulted in better medical care for patients. The introduction of higher magnetic field strengths, wider bores, and sophisticated coil technology have enabled more accessible MRI options, including the ability to guide interventional procedures and expanded applications of MRI in clinical areas such as cardiology and pulmonology. As the utilization of MRI grows, optimizing the performance of these critical resources is important to improve patient care, accommodate demand, and extend the life of MRI systems.

With a complete understanding and visibility of an MRI system’s utilization, department administrators can optimize MRI resources more efficiently.

As an industry partner, GE HealthCare supports customers with performance management tools to help identify areas of opportunity, such as system utilization. These tools provide dynamic and comprehensive dashboards on key acquisition and analytic measures to provide radiology department staff the information they rely on to deliver excellence in imaging services.

System utilization tools combine machine-based data intelligence with human expertise to unlock clinical value and operational efficiency within a radiology department and ensure MRI resources are running at peak performance. GE HealthCare provides customized tools to help department managers and staff better understand the data and make the appropriate decisions to enact clinical and operational improvements.

A better MRI for a better tomorrow

MRI will continue to play a vital role in diagnosing and treating a wide range of medical conditions and help drive advanced outcomes. Managing the growing utilization of MRI and optimizing MRI departments can be a complex task. A holistic approach that involves managing MRI as a whole, from staff to technology, is needed to achieve success.

The continued integration of workflow solutions, AI, and advanced imaging technology can be used to enhance the performance of MRI departments and continue to drive efficiency in the future. Together, these tools can drive efficiency and optimize staff productivity and collaboration, while system utilization resources can help manage consistency and quality across health systems.

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Not all products or features are available in all geographies. Check with your local GE HealthCare representative for availability in your country.

REFERENCES

[1] IMV 2022 Market Outlook Report MRI Final

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