Workflow interruptions in an era of instant messaging: A detailed analysis.

INTRODUCTION: The complex practice environment and responsibilities incumbent on diagnostic radiologists creates a workflow susceptible to disruption. While interruptions have been shown to contribute to medical errors in the healthcare delivery environment, the exact impact on highly subspecialized services such as diagnostic radiology is less certain. One potential source of workflow disruption is the use of a departmental instant messaging system (Webex), to facilitate communications between radiology faculty, residents, fellows, and technologists. A retrospective review was conducted to quantify the frequency of interruption experienced by our neuroradiology fellows. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data logs were gathered comprising all instant messages sent and received within the designated group chats from July 5-December 31, 2021, during weekday shifts staffed by neuroradiology fellows. Interruptions per shift were calculated based on month, week, and day of the week. RESULTS: 14,424 messages were sent across 289 total shifts. The 6 fellows assigned to the main neuroradiology reading room sent 3258 messages and received 10,260 messages from technologists and other staff. There was an average of 50 interruptions per shift when examined by month (range 48-53), and 52 interruptions per shift when examined by day of the week (range 40-60). CONCLUSION: Neuroradiology fellows experience frequent interruptions from the departmental instant messaging system. These disruptions, when considered in conjunction with other non-interpretative tasks, may have negative implications for workflow efficiency, requiring iterative process improvements when incorporating new technology into the practice environment of diagnostic radiology.

Training the New Radiologists: Approaches for Education.

The field of Radiology is continually changing, requiring corresponding evolution in both medical student and resident training to adequately prepare the next generation of radiologists. With advancements in adult education theory and a deeper understanding of perception in imaging interpretation, expert educators are reshaping the training landscape by introducing innovative teaching methods to align with increased workload demands and emerging technologies. These include the use of peer and interdisciplinary teaching, gamification, case repositories, flipped-classroom models, social media, and drawing and comics. This publication aims to investigate these novel approaches and offer persuasive evidence supporting their incorporation into the updated Radiology curriculum.