Teleradiology is probably the most developed field of telemedicine. And it looks like that this field will continue to keep this tag in the coming years vowing to the latest advancements in allied technologies such as cloud, visualization and mobile. Let’s take a look at how these technologies are going to transform teleradiology in 2017 and beyond.
1. The Omnipresent Cloud:
The emergence of cloud computing has become a major growth driver for teleradiology services world over. As patient images start leaving the server rooms of hospitals and reside on virtual networks of datacenters there will be universal access to image data. What this means is that doctors and other healthcare professionals can have more seamless access to their patient’s images. Also the duplication of scans can be completely eliminated.
2. Intelligent Workflow Management Software:
Thanks to intelligent workflow management software, teleradiology services of the future will transcend barriers and become much more effective as well easy to use. They will allow teleradiology services to route images seamlessly and efficiently across the network to most qualified and readily-available radiologist at that particular time. Armed with various collaboration tools, this software will also allow radiologists to interact with each other or with a clinician online to zero-in on the next course of action.
3. New Age Mobile Solutions:
New age smartphones and tablets are allowing radiologists to conduct business on the go. They are enabling oncologists, neurosurgeons and cardiologists to quickly examine the patient’s images while traveling, between consultations or even on vacations, without having to be physically present at work and log on to cumbersome workstations. And on the patient side, mobile solutions are removing the barriers in communication, enabling patients to approach radiologists at any time and from anywhere.
4. Advanced Visualization Tools:
Not long ago, 3D post-processing and viewing was carried out by radiologists at high-end standalone workstations. Now, advanced visualization tools are enabling radiologist to do the same throughout the enterprise. This has greatly reduced costs, as expensive high-end standalone workstations are replaced by inexpensive visualization tools connected to a central server. What’s more, as all users can access the data directly, regardless of the physical location of the distributed servers, there will be no need to route data back and forth in between multiple servers or workstations. Leveraging all these advantages, teleradiology companies can effectively deploy radiologist and technologist workforce across the organization, and combat staffing shortages.
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