Summary
Background: Scant knowledge exists describing health care providers’ and staffs’ experiences
sharing imaging studies. Additional research is needed to determine the extent to
which imaging studies are shared in diverse health care settings, and the extent to
which provider or practice characteristics are associated with barriers to viewing
external imaging studies on portable media.
Objective: This analysis uses qualitative data to 1) examine how providers and their staff accessed
outside medical imaging studies, 2) examine whether use or the desire to use imaging
studies conducted at outside facilities varied by provider specialty or location (urban,
suburban, and small town) and 3) delineate difficulties experienced by providers or
staff as they attempted to view and use imaging studies available on portable media.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 85 health care providers and medical
facility staff from urban, suburban, and small town medical practices in North Carolina
and Virginia. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, then systematically
analyzed using ATLAS.ti.
Results: Physicians at family and pediatric medicine practices rely primarily on written reports
for medical studies other than X-rays; and thus do not report difficulties accessing
outside imaging studies. Subspecialists in urban, suburban, and small towns view imaging
studies through internal communication systems, internet portals, or portable media.
Many subspecialists and their staff report experiencing difficulty and time delays
in accessing and using imaging studies on portable media.
Conclusion: Subspecialists have distinct needs for viewing imaging studies that are not shared
by typical primary care providers. As development and implementation of technical
strategies to share medical records continue, this variation in need and use should
be noted. The sharing and viewing of medical imaging studies on portable media is
often inefficient and fails to meet the needs of many subspeciality physicians, and
can lead to repeated imaging studies.
Citation: Sandberg JC, Ge Y, Nguyen HT, Arcury TA, Johnson AJ, Hwang W, Gage HD, Reynolds T,
Carr JJ. Insight into the sharing of medical images. Physician, other health care
providers, and staff experience in a variety of medical settings. Appl Clin Inf 2012;
3: 475–487
http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2012-06-RA-0022
Keywords
Medical record systems - radiology information PACS - compact disks* - electronic
health records - hospital information systems
