Subspecialized radiology reporting: productivity and impact on the turnaround times for radiology reports in a middle-income country

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect that transitioning from a model of general radiology reporting to one of subspecialized radiology reporting has on report turnaround times (TATs) and on productivity in the radiology department of a hospital in a middle-income country. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The reporting workflow in our radiology department was changed from general reporting (any radiologist reporting imaging studies for any specialty) to subspecialized reporting (radiologists exclusively reporting imaging studies that fall within their subspecialty-abdominal, musculoskeletal, cardiothoracic, emergency, or neurological imaging). This was a retrospective study in which we compared general reporting with subspecialized reporting in terms of the following variables: the TAT; the proportions of reports completed within 2 h and within 24 h (TAT-2h and TAT- 24 h, respectively); and productivity. Data were collected over two 24-month periods (2015-2016 for general reporting and 2017-2018 for subspecialized reporting). RESULTS: A total of 208,516 reports were generated. The median report TAT decreased from 49.1 h and 52.9 h in 2015 and 2016, respectively, to 16.1 h and 15.2 h in 2017 and 2018, respectively (p < 0.001). The TAT-2h also improved, increasing from 8.7% and 7.9% in 2015 and 2016, respectively, to 52.0% and 61.3% in 2017 and 2018, respectively (p < 0.001), as did the TAT- 24 h, which increased from 12.1% and 14.1% in 2015 and 2016, respectively, to 74.3% and 78.7% in 2017 and 2018, respectively (p < 0.001). Between the two periods, the total number of scans performed increased by 33% (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The implementation of a subspecialized reporting system significantly improved the median TAT for radiology reports, as well as increasing the TAT-2h and TAT- 24 h, during a time of increased productivity.