In the past, the medical imaging field was a steadily growing field. But in recent years, that demand has surged and put a strain on understaffed centers.
These requirements must be met effectively and efficiently, and this is where digital solutions can play an increasingly important role in transforming radiology. Leveraging digital technologies to transform big data into insights supports more accurate diagnoses, targeted treatments, and improved patient satisfaction.
AI-powered solutions can help radiologists and clinicians make the right decisions for each patient by highly integrating and interpreting data to generate actionable insights.
AI Can Help With Clinical Decisions
The radiology field is facing a shortage of staff at a time when data is coming in at an unprecedented rate. But who will be there to be able to handle the flow of this data and then turn it into decisions that can help the patients?
It can be hard for overworked people to do that, especially if their brains are already tired. That can lead to mistakes.
This is where AI can come in – it can do a very successful job of being able to integrate that flow and then interpreting what the data itself means and can guide the clinicians and radiologists to help the patients and give a correct diagnosis and decision.
If a radiologist uses AI, they can handle a much larger workload. This situation exists in the first place due to the field not being able to hire enough people to keep up with what is going on.
This would have been a dangerous situation decades ago, but since AI has been refined, it has shown that it can help the medical imaging sector.
It’s All About Workflow
Right now, the overwhelmed remaining radiologists are facing a bottleneck with this data. There is only so much that they are capable of being able to see and process.
That is one of the limitations of being a human. Not even copious amounts of caffeine can change how long people can focus. The workflow will then struggle.
AI technology can loosen that bottleneck and allow the data to flow through at its normal rate. Another solution offered by companies is remote scanning software. People don’t have to be in the same place where the imaging is occurring.
Thus, the workflow can be lessened, and productivity can be boosted at the same time. It’s all about using what you have at the time.
Learning From a Pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic altered things a lot – and not in the best way. People didn’t get screened since they were afraid they might get sick. Staffing was hit hard. That is where technology comes in. AI will help fill the void that the healthcare field currently has and will pave the way to improving how things will be in the future.
This can help avoid straining an already taxed system and start allowing things to become better.
Better Storage of Imaging Data
Another limitation was how much data could be stored at medical facilities, including doctor’s offices. It could be extremely time-consuming and annoying to try to find these images as well. That is a thing of the past – all images can be searched and found very quickly.
This is important since there are also many different types of images to refer to. Previously, doctor’s offices might have had to wait for an image of a PET scan to be sent to them. Not anymore.
They can access a database and look up the results in minutes and not wait days. That is also a benefit to the patient since time is often of the essence in these situations.
As medicine and technology continue to merge through the upcoming years and decades, things will improve even more. The AI will be refined, and the computers and medical equipment will be integrated with that so that the relevant data will be recognized even faster.
That way, patients get even more precise diagnoses in much more timely ways. It can even be a lifesaver for them since they could get necessary treatments at times when the disease might be in its earliest and treatable stage.
When this happens, radiology will be a field that will continue to grow and thrive, thanks to AI. People will be trained to be able to work with AI, and the two parties can then combine to form the most effective teams in medicine. The future looks bright for how technology can keep transforming medical imaging. That is a plus for humanity.