Radiologists spend a disproportionate amount of time at their PACS workstations, both in the hospital and at home. While many institutions have deployed basic ergonomic accommodations such as high quality chairs and adjustable desks, they continue to use basic keyboards and mice with minimal supportive technologies. Research in other domains has shown that providing workers with control over their environment can result in improvement in wellness and potential reduction in burnout, along with bolstering productivity. We aim to examine of the benefits relative to costs of giving radiologists control over the types of ergonomic equipment and inclusion of supportive hardware for their work. Read More

Meeting name: SPR 2024 Annual Meeting & Postgraduate Course , 2024

Authors: Larsen Ethan, Jalloul Mohammad, Parmar Sweta, Kaplan Summer, Anupindi Sudha

Keywords: Ergonomics, Human Factors

Reading Room Coordinators (RRCs) are crucial for radiology department operations. Studies have shown the positive impact of RRCs in improving workflow efficiency for radiologists. Despite their critical role in facilitating communication and minimizing disruptions to radiologists’, RRCs often experience significant workflow interruptions, primarily due to constant phone calls and multitasking demands. Our practice’s RRCs receive ~7700 inbound calls per week in addition to all outbound calls, emails, and legal requests. These interruptions may impact radiologists, radiology operations, other hospital departments, and patients and families downstream. We examined the barriers affecting RRC workflow using the SEIPS (Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety) framework from human factors (HF). We implemented interventions to overcome those barriers to increase efficiency, reduce interruptions, and improve the work environment. Read More

Meeting name: SPR 2025 Annual Meeting , 2025

Authors: Parmar Sweta, Liu Ray, Larsen Ethan, Macon Reyna, Nigro Alessandria, Silvestro Elizabeth, Anupindi Sudha

Keywords: Workload, Wellness, Improvement