title: Expediting the turnaround of radiology reports in a teaching hospital setting.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to determine whether total quality management (TQM) techniques that had proved successful in a pilot study in one departmental section of a teaching hospital could be generalized for use by the entire radiology department.
  
  
  METHODS
  Each departmental section developed interventions to improve its report turnaround time. These interventions were tailored to practice style and habits of each section. Commonly used interventions included electronic signature from the radiologist's home, a report-signing buddy system, elimination of a trainee signature requirement, accelerated transcription, structured reports, faster film delivery to reading desks, and training about the importance of radiology reports for clinical decision making. Specialized programs included computerized form-driven reporting and reports generated directly by computer voice recognition of radiologists' dictation. Our radiology information system provided data on each step in the reporting process.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The TQM approach produced significant improvements in departmental total report turnaround time (-55%; p = .001), transcription time (-80%; p = .003), and signature time (-68%; p = .0004). Each section achieved significant gains. The sonography section initiated a computerized, form-driven reporting system and outperformed the rest of the department.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TQM techniques can be expanded and generalized for department-wide projects in teaching hospitals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Seltzer
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: B F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Chiango
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Viera
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fener
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hooton
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bannon-Rohrbach
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Healy
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Doubilet
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Holman
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D006747:Hospital Communication Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records; D011872:Radiology Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017749:Total Quality Management