Most of the healthcare provided by physicians involves some method of imaging. In the past, technicians have performed diagnostic services in the imaging departments of hospitals. Today, imaging services are brought to the patient with the help of mobile imaging.

 

Since there is such a high demand for x-rays, ultrasounds, MRI, CT scans, and EKGs, in-house hospital departments tend to be overwhelmed, and patients can have long wait times in crowded waiting rooms. Even getting an appointment for the imaging service can take a long time which delays treatment for the patient’s care.

 

With the emergence of mobile imaging, patients have more accessible, more efficient access to imaging services. With faster access to the patient, healthcare professionals can diagnose their patients more quickly and begin necessary treatments.

Senior Population and Imaging

The best example of the benefits of mobile imaging is with the senior population–many of whom reside in assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Persons over the age of 65 are a fragile population who need imaging services frequently.

The older age group has an increased fall rate, a higher rate of pneumonia and cancers, and compromised immune systems.  They need prompt diagnoses, but transportation to receive medical care is complicated.

The benefits are vast when mobile imaging can accommodate this population’s needs:

• Overall, costs are reduced for the service because the facility doesn’t need to transport the patient to a hospital imaging department.
• Understaffed facilities don’t need to assign an employee to accompany the patient for diagnostic imaging in a hospital.
• There are fewer transfers between facility and hospital.
• Mobile imaging services reduce anxiety in the elderly because transporting and waiting for imaging services accentuates fear in the undiagnosed.
• There is a reduced need for hospitalizations and outpatient treatments of the patients because the assisted living facilities and nursing homes can provide prescribed care.
• Mobile imaging can provide needed diagnostic information to the patient’s attending physician faster than an imaging department can, which expedites a treatment plan for the patient.
• The patient can remain in familiar surroundings (and with people they know) while receiving diagnostic imaging services. This benefit is significant when the patient has difficulty understanding or processing information.

When people of any age are hurting, fearful, anxious, or lack understanding, their comfort is the most crucial factor in beneficial treatments. Mobile imaging comes to the patient and provides fast, efficient, accessible, and cost-effective diagnostics for the most fragile patients.

 Working with a Teleradiology Company

With Vesta Teleradiology, we work with mobile imaging centers and any health facility that provides this technology to their patients. We work with your workflow and integrate to your technology so sending and receiving scans is a breeze. Learn more about how we can help you now: call us at 1-877-55-VESTA.

As we head into the last quarter of the year, it’s good to review safety procedures and protocols especially as they relate to COVID-19 and emerging variants. Are you operating a nursing home, women’s wellness center, community clinic, outpatient imaging center? Let’s take care to make sure our workers and patients are safe and feel comfortable to continue their routine exams and screenings.

Freshen up on best practices you should implement at your facility to ensure end-to-end safety for both patients and workers. 

 Don’t Forget the Basics

A wellness check can be performed before entering. Taking the patron’s temperature with a laser gun and asking a series of questions pertaining to their health can offer a baseline comparison to assess if they are well and able to enter at that time. Providing masks to anyone who needs them is also vital.

Requiring hand sanitizing before entering the facility is usual practice in many facilities. Having alcohol-based hand sanitizer and washing stations accessible throughout the facility is one defense. Washing hands at certain times can be required for general cleanliness and hand hygiene.

Wearing PPE while in the facility can help prevent the spread. Approved facemasks, goggles, gloves, hair nets, shoe coverings, and more can be implemented at the job site. These pieces provides a barrier between a person’s skin, mouth, nose, and eyes, and viral or bacterial infection.

Maintaining distance can help. Workers making sure they are at least six feet from one another should be a goal. Doctors and nurses beginning appointments with patients by getting initial information through an iPad remotely from the next room can minimize time spent face-to-face. Another way to maintain distance is to manage patient flow—the fewer people on-site at any given time, the better.

 

While everyone should constantly be cleaning their area throughout the day, having a designated cleaning person with knowledge of which cleaners to use on which surfaces can increase this effort. For example, hydrogen peroxide kills Coronavirus on metallic surfaces. Otherwise, soap and water, bleach, or 70% alcohol-based cleaner to wipe down high-touch surfaces throughout the day has proven to eliminate Coronavirus.  

Education

Providing literature, statistics, news and local information regarding COVID-19 can be made available throughout healthcare facilities for those interested in learning more.

Supplement information can also be made available. In addition to taking vitamins C and D on a daily basis, zinc, essential oils, probiotics, and other immune-building substances can be emphasized. Attaining optimal nutritional status can bolster immunity and protect against disease. 

Imaging and COVID Safety

If you operate diagnostic imaging tools like x-rays, MR machines, CAT scan machines, you should be very wary of your safety procedures for those who either have COVID or may be a Person Under Investigation for COVID. The American College of Radiology has guidance on these situations as they relate to MR use: 

“For patients with known active COVID-19 infection and Persons Under Investigation (PUI) for COVID-19, the American College of Radiology (ACR) recommends that practitioners minimize the use of MR except when absolutely necessary, and postpone all non-urgent or non-emergent exams. In some cases, the use of alternative imaging methods such as point of care or portable imaging may be appropriate. As with all imaging, the impact of the results of the imaging must potentially affect imminent clinical management.” More here.

For questions about proper cleaning and disinfection of imaging equipment, consult with the manufacturer of your machines and check with the CDC for guidance.

Check out this interesting read: COVID-19 pandemic: Cleaning and disinfection – What should the radiologist know?

Healthcare facilities have the power to serve and protect their communities. They have the responsibility to inform, educate, and heal. They can take action for the well-being of their workers, patients, and the public.

At Vesta Teleradiology

Even though we are a remote radiology company, we ensure the best sanitizing, disinfecting, and cleaning protocols in our offices. And of course, with such technology that our teleradiology services come with, our services are contactless and touch-free. When you partner with us, a Gateway application is installed remotely to allow your systems direct access to our PACS. Once linked, your technicians send exams straight from your machine to our PACS. Vesta account specialists assign it to the proper physician who read and dictate the report, it’s uploaded to your branded template where it’s easily accessible for your facility to access and download!

With Vesta’s solutions, we offer a user-friendly portal for physicians to view all reports as soon as they’re available, and they are customizable, too with your facility’s information and logo. Any critical findings are immediately shared with the facility via phone, email or text.

For more information or for a quote, please contact us.

Working in healthcare is certainly not for the faint of heart. The doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other healthcare professionals in our hospitals today are constantly facing high-pressure, high-stakes situations — and their work undoubtedly takes a toll on their mental health.

How can mental health issues impact the healthcare workers in your office? What can you do to help them find a little peace? Here’s what you need to know.

The Facts

Healthcare has always been a stressful line of work. The very nature of the job requires long, unusual hours, uncooperative patients, and sometimes even life or death situations — hardly a walk in the park. It was not uncommon to hear of physicians and nurses suffering from burnout and losing their passion for their field due to all the stress.

And that was BEFORE the pandemic.

Now, there is no question that healthcare workers are suffering from a mental health crisis. According to a survey of healthcare workers by Mental Health America, 75% of workers reported feeling overwhelmed in recent months, 86% reported increased anxiety, and (perhaps most disappointingly) 39% of workers felt they didn’t have the adequate emotional support to deal with their current mental state.

The Dangers

So, what does all this mean?

Today’s healthcare workers are stressed, exhausted, and stretched too thin, and this can have significant impacts on the care they provide. In fact, a survey from Berxi revealed that one in three healthcare workers admitted to making more mistakes on the job since the pandemic began! This puts all your patients in greater harm and puts your facility at risk for all kinds of legal action.

The Solutions

If you want the patients in your facility to receive excellent care (and if you want to avoid lawsuits that arise from accidental malpractice), you need to give your workers the support they need to cope with the stress of working on the frontlines of a pandemic.

There are many ways to give your workers support. You can offer them free time with a counselor via remote sessions, or even assign each worker a buddy they can talk with each day about the stressors they’re facing. Sometimes, a listening ear can be hugely helpful in easing stress and avoiding burnout.

 Teleradiology Solution

Another great option for helping your staff’s mental health is to lighten the load they have to carry. For example, you can outsource work for your radiology department to a teleradiology company. This can keep your radiologists from being stretched too thin, so they can provide your patients with the care and attention they deserve.

Visit our website today to learn more about teleradiology and how it can help your workers recover from some of their workplace stress. At Vesta, we offer fast turnaround times (TAT)  to satisfy your patients’ needs as well as night coverage for STAT requirements. 

Vesta Teleradiology, is pleased to announce the industry’s first ‘Three Year Rate Guarantee.’

Imaging facilities are facing tremendous financial pressure with falling reimbursements, stricter billing requirements and consumerism of healthcare. In this environment of reduced profit margins, Vesta is announcing the industry’s first, ‘Three Year Rate Guarantee’ to all current and new clients.

Vesta’s Three Year Rate Guarantee: All Vesta clients will never pay more than the initial agreement rate, for a minimum of 3 years.

 

“Hospitals, Urgent Care Centers, Imaging Centers and Mobile X-Ray providers are seeing reduced profit margins, in part due to reductions in insurance reimbursements. In an effort to provide these service providers with price stability, we are pleased to offer the industry’s first rate guarantee,” stated Vijay Vonguru, President of Vesta Teleradiology.

“In addition, to this Industry First Rate Guarantee, Vesta is reviewing additional ways for our clients to contain costs while we continue to provide the high level of service our clients receive,” Vijay added.

About Vesta Teleradiology:

Vesta brings you teleradiology solutions and services, providing 24x7x365 access to our highly qualified Board Certified radiologists through a secure PACS. At Vesta, we offer comprehensive, affordable radiology solutions for our partners. Vesta has been a pioneer in supportive diagnostic workflow technology and quality diagnostic services. We are steadfast in our passion to remain at the forefront of innovation in healthcare. We offer night and holiday coverage.

Prospective clients are offered a free test drive of Vesta’s teleradiology service. Please contact us to schedule a demo.