Quality Improvement Report: Design and Implementation of a Radiology E-Consult Service

Radiographics. 2023 Dec;43(12):e230139. doi: 10.1148/rg.230139.

Abstract

Electronic consultations (e-consults) mediated through an electronic health record system or web-based platform allow synchronous or asynchronous physician-to-physician communication. E-consults have been explored in various clinical specialties, but relatively few instances in the literature describe e-consults to connect health care providers directly with radiologists.The authors outline how a radiology department can implement an e-consult service and review the development of such a service in a large academic health system. They describe the logistics, workflow, turnaround time expectations, stakeholder management, and pilot implementation and highlight challenges and lessons learned.

MeSH terms

  • Communication
  • Humans
  • Quality Improvement*
  • Radiology*
  • Referral and Consultation
  • Software