Staggered Radiologist Work Shifts Improve Patient Care, Study

A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR), entitled “The Impact of an Early-Morning Radiologist Work Shift on the Timeliness of Communicating Urgent Imaging Findings on Portable Chest Radiography”, argues that having staggered radiologist work shifts lead to quicker delivery of results and enhanced patient care. Different styles of work shifts are being used in radiology centers; while many centers are turning to 24/7 teleradiology services to meet their overnight needs, some organizations use staggered shifts to cover nearly round-the-clock care; others depend on the more traditional on-call system to cover urgent findings. This recent study compares the on-call and staggered shifts systems.