Assessment of an online radiology reporting system

This study was designed to assess the efficiency of radiology reporting in the Royal Adelaide Hospital Department of Radiology, which introduced online reporting in November 1994. Seventeen radiologists were monitored without their knowledge, and recordings were made of the times between report dictation and report typing, and the time that the report waited on computer for verification. The total median values for verification time for 9/17 radiologists were less than 12 h and for 14/17 were less than 24h. On average, reports were available from all reporting areas within 24 h. However, some reports waited up to 13 and 14 days to be verified and to be available on computer for treating clinicians. This report demonstrates that on average rapid reporting is occurring, however some areas need to be considered further to maximize efficiency.