title: Technology-Assisted Virtual Consultation for Medical Imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to report the investigators' preliminary experience in the implementation of a "virtual consult" (VC) system enabling consultations between radiologists and referring physicians in physically remote locations throughout their enterprise.
  
  
  METHODS
  Referrers and radiologists directly access the VC through the electronic medical record and PACS, respectively. Referrers may click a VC link associated with any examination report to instant message the appropriate subspecialist radiologist, who receives an alert allowing automatic loading of the examination. The radiologist and referrer may then discuss the examination via instant messaging as well as launch a real-time screen-share of the radiologist's PACS display, with the option for either participant to control the display. Radiologists' and referrers' feedback was evaluated after the institution's first 110 VC sessions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Referrers' most common specialties were emergency medicine (27.3%) and internal medicine (13.6%); radiologists' most common subspecialties were abdominal (33.6%) and thoracic (16.4%) imaging. Screen-shares lasted on average 12 ± 16 minutes. From 80% to 90% of referrers agreed that the VC was easy to use, improved their understanding of the radiology report, affected patient management, and enhanced radiologists' role. Referrers found the VC to be particularly useful when traditional consultation was difficult because of location or time constraints or when seeking a quick response to a targeted question. Radiologists recognized referrers' positive response to the VC, although they tended to view the VC as disruptive to normal workflow.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The VC addresses a key challenge in the current era of digital radiology practice and provides added value to referrers, though continued radiologists' workflow optimization is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York. Electronic address: andrew.rosenkrantz@nyumc.org.
authors.forename: Andrew B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Rosenkrantz
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sherwin
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Chandan P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Prithiani
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ostrow
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Recht
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006747:Hospital Communication Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009518:New York; D011873:Radiology Information Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D060145:Text Messaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D014600:Utilization Review
keywords: Radiologist; consultation; digital radiology; radiology practice; referring physician