[Assessment of the importance of teleradiology services in the opinion of electroradiologists in Poland].

Abstract

Background: Teleradiology is a modern service that allows for the transmission of imaging studies between facilities, clinicians, and qualified medical staff. It requires employers to meet many important legal formal criteria to properly deliver services. Teleradiology has significantly improved access to radiological services, including radiological examinations, and to specialists in narrow fields of radiology. The development of teleradiology and telemedicine, despite many benefits, also brings many risks, such as technical errors and improper service delivery.

Material and methods: The study aims to assess the importance of teleradiology in the perception of electroradiologists who mediate in the delivery of this service, often overlooked by employers in its organization. The survey was conducted among actively practicing electroradiologists, particularly those working with teleradiology services. Electroradiologists in the study identified the advantages and disadvantages of the service, as well as various aspects related to the organization of teleradiology services. The study also aimed to raise awareness among personnel providing telemedical services. To asses the normality of distribution of the result obtained the following were used Kolmogorov-Smirnov test of normality of distribution, and non-parametric tests were used in their analysis and correlations between the some of the values.

Results: The research group (N = 344) consisted of licensed electroradiologists (N = 99, 28.8%), master's degree holders in electroradiology (31.4%, N = 108), and electroradiology technicians (N = 137, 39.8%). Of these, 276 were female (80.2%) and 68 were male (19.8%) aged 23-67 years.

Conclusions: Surveyed electroradiologists rated teleradiology services positively. The respondents most frequently pointed out 3 advantages of teleradiology: increased service accessibility, streamlining of radiology department work, and better allocation of human resources. The most commonly mentioned disadvantages of teleradiology among respondents include the possibility of errors in radiological procedures due to the lack of direct involvement of a radiologist in supervising the examination, the absence of a real-time monitoring system for the service, and the lack of standardization of hospital information systems. Med Pr Work Health Saf. 2024;75(6):511-519.