Radiologist-Patient Interaction

Radiology has been a prominent field since 1895, starting out as photographers, physicists or amateur experimenters instead of having their medical degree. At the beginning of radiology the radiologist acted as the technician—a person who takes the images—and also the interpreter of the images. This made the early radiologists be in direct contact with the patients and their contact with the patient has decreased drastically due to the radiologists wanting to increase their professional status with the public and other medical professionals. People to this day still don’t know whether a radiologist is a technician or a physician. (1) So what happened to the radiologist?

                As I said above, the radiologist had direct contact with patients because they did both the examination and the interpretation of the images with the patient along with giving the images to the patient. Radiologists stopped giving the images from the scan to their patients because it was thought of, by the medical community, to not be the patient’s property. Then in 1916, the American Roentgen Ray Society advised the radiologists to only communicate the results only to the patient’s physician. This was done so that referring physicians would find radiologists as medical experts. (1)

                In 1922 the American Registry of Radiological Technology was established creating qualification and licensure requirements for technicians. Now the radiologist was taken even further away from the patient, only doing the job of interpreting the results of the scans and communicating the results to the physicians. This required little to no communication with the patient that was getting a radiologic scan. (1)

                Location also effected the radiologist-patient interaction because as hospitals became bigger and were able to buy and keep up with the expenses of the equipment needed for scans, which made the hospital a better place for a radiologist to work, rather than an outpatient clinic. Their location within the hospital has also lead to a decline in communication, placing them in a completely different portion of the hospital, away from where all patients may go. They are also not provided with rooms in which patients could come in a talk to the radiologist about their results or ask any questions about the scan. Those questions are left to their physicians or the technician conducting their scan, which the radiologist could answer just as good, if not better than the others who are involved with the patient. (1)

                There was a study done that measured the interaction between radiologists and patients at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. There were three categories of patient interaction: direct radiologist-patient, variable, and no interaction. They found that at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, 22% of radiologists performed examinations that required direct patient interaction, which include diagnostic mammography, gastrointestinal radiology, and interventional radiology. 26% of the radiologists working had no interaction with the patient. In the variable group, which means that the radiologist interacted with some of the patients or had to be available in case of an adverse reaction to the contrast given during the injection of a contrast media, 22% of radiologists had to be available to the patient during the exam. At the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, 18% had direct interactions with patients, 24% had no interaction, and 29% had variable interaction with patients. (1,2)

                Radiologist-patient interaction should become more important in the health care system because they are very knowledgeable and know the scans better than a general doctor does. Instead of the patient having to hear second hand information from their doctor, they should be able to go to a radiologist and be able to have all their questions asked.

Here is my question: Would having a radiologist read and explain the results of the exam to the patient be beneficial or not?

References:

1. Glazer, G. M., and J. A. Ruiz-Wibbelsmann. "The Invisible Radiologist."Radiology 258.1 (2010): 18-22. Print.

2. Williamson, Eric E., and Byrn Williamson. "Radiologist-patient Interactions: Implications For Picture Archiving And Communications Systems And Teleradiology." Journal of Digital Imaging12.S1 (1999): 137-138. Print.