Critical Results Notification System in the Electronic Health Record: Advancing Radiology and Patient Care

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Informatics
• Medical Imaging
• Patient Safety

Background:

• The Joint Commission designates timely reporting as a National Patient Safety Goal due to communication failures.
• Efficient systems are crucial for improving communication in healthcare settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement an electronic Critical Result (CR) notification system for radiology reports.
• To align with Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goal-2 by tracking and reducing turnaround times (TATs).

Main Methods:

• A four-step framework was used to develop the CR notification system, customizing an existing Electronic Health Record (EHR) module.
• The system supported 18 CR types with five acknowledgment pathways, including mobile integration.
• Pre- and post-implementation data (six months each) were collected, with median TATs as the primary measure and Winsorization for mean TAT analysis.

Main Results:

• Median TAT remained 13 minutes before and after implementation.
• Winsorization and mean TAT analysis showed a decrease in average TAT from 34 minutes to 20 minutes, indicating improved efficiency.

Conclusions:

• The electronic CR notification system successfully automated critical result notifications, replacing manual workflows.
• The system enhances operational efficiency through real-time tracking and data-driven interventions.
• It establishes a foundation for continuous monitoring and improvement of TAT performance within the EHR.