vRad’s Industry Leading Protocols and Turnaround Times

We strive for practice excellence and quality patient care which means appropriately prioritizing patient studies and producing industry-leading turnaround times.

Our innovations for improving turnaround time performance and efficiency include:

To help ensure we get the right study to the right radiologist in the shortest amount of time, we have developed custom urgency levels and protocols.  vRad’s protocols are designed to quickly identify and escalate critical studies so they receive top attention, allowing for quick turnaround time — essential to quality patient care.

Stroke Protocol

Stroke Protocol cases are designated with our highest prioritization and fastest turnaround time target of under 20 minutes. The current average turnaround time for Stroke Protocol studies is under 7 minutes.  vRad is the trusted partner of stroke centers nationwide, reading over 73,000 stroke studies per year.  Read more about vRad’s Stroke Protocol.

Trauma Protocol

vRad’s patented custom workflow for Trauma Protocol studies streamlines the ordering process and automates case prioritization and distribution to multiple radiologists working concurrently on the various body regions of a single patient case. The current average turnaround time for Trauma Protocol studies is under 12 minutes.  Read more about vRad’s Trauma Protocol.

Managers must be able to coordinate the unannounced or short-noticed arrivals. We can send an ever-changing number of studies for interpretation with no notice and without compromising turnaround times. This is possible because the teleradiology system automatically distributes imaging studies to a large pool of available radiologists, supported by a live 24x7 operations center.
Marty Khatib, JD RT(R) Director, Imaging Services, Mercy San Juan Medical Center

STAT Emergent

The “STAT” designation is reserved for cases for which an extremely rapid interpretation is critical, such as for a patient with high suspicion of intracranial hemorrhage and declining mental status. The turnaround time for STAT cases is typically 20 minutes or less.

Emergent

Emergent orders are given priority over routine orders because the conditions are acute and potentially life threatening.  The current average emergent turnaround time is under 30 minutes.

 Radiologic Protocol

“I’m about to scan a patient with a 50% overnight increase in creatinine—is it okay to issue IV contrast?”  Technologists can ask a protocol question such as this directly to a vRad radiologist prior to scanning a patient.

vRad’s Radiologic Protocol:

  • Routes online protocol requests to the radiologist most qualified to answer the question
  • Documents the question asked, along with the response provided for your records
  • Assigns the subsequent study to the responding radiologist

Benefits:

  • Rapid response—questions picked up by a radiologist in under 4 minutes on average
  • Documented medical advice
  • Answers from the best-qualified radiologist
  • Conveniently located in our client Order Management System

For more information regarding our custom protocols, or to find out how how vRad can help you manage your imaging services differently—with the insight that comes from the nation’s leading radiology practice, contact us today.

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