Transformação Digital da RadiologiaConstruir decisões guiadas por dados em imagiologia, melhorando os cuidados ao paciente

COVID-19: What we can learn from the pandemic

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Every day you make hundreds of decisions impacting the well-being of your patients. This is becoming more and more challenging with the ever-growing amount of data. To overcome this, we drive the digital transformation of imaging to improve patient care and to provide better outcomes with increased efficiency. The digital transformation of radiology is centered around three themes:

  • Intelligent imaging to gather high-quality data while using the full potential of the systems
  • AI-powered clinical decisions to guide decision making along the patient journey
  • Streamlined operations to increase productivity and optimize asset utilization

Explore how the digital transformation brings the future within your reach.

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has been so deeply impactful that it has changed the lives and the way of thinking for all of us in a very short time. We believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to significantly change the radiology and healthcare system: In particular, it might serve as a catalyst in developing more effective, efficient and, above all, more humane medicine.

The inclusion of radiological findings in confirming the COVID-19 diagnosis of a patient has significantly increased the workload of radiologists. More and more cases must be read, annotated and prioritized. AI-powered analysis of radiological images has the potential to reduce this growing burden on radiologists, speed up their reading time and accuracy.

Currently, telemedicine, remote control, diagnostic recommendations based on big data and artificial intelligence, and medical apps are revealing their enormous benefits – greater productivity, faster availability, less administrative work and, of course, the spatial separation of physician and patient. We are undergoing a paradigm shift towards digital fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Christoph Zindel

Read about the impact of COVID-19 on radiology from Dr. Christoph Zindel, Member of the managing board of Siemens Healthineers.

Future of radiology

Technology has opened doors to improve and support healthcare and we believe radiology has a major role to play in making medicine more precise and shaping care delivery. Two key trends in radiology that we already see today and believe will be extremely relevant in the times to come are remote service and AI-driven solutions.

Healthcare will increasingly be more broadly provided through remote services, not only to reduce the risk of infectious diseases like COVID-19 or to be more efficient, but also making it more convenient for the patient. AI is already contributing significantly to radiology and with new innovations, it will revolutionize clinical workflows. In the long term, with AI-assisted image analysis improving by the day, radiology as we traditionally know it will cease to exist. This doesn’t mean that it will go away, instead it will be significantly different, and at the same time more important than ever. It will help to center and integrate data from various sources (e.g., Pathology, Lab, Genetics, Imaging) in order to best navigate and stratify patients for their personalized therapy.

AI-powered imaging

AI-powered imaging

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are crucial today. The technology is making its way into routine clinical imaging as we speak, and radiology for all of us will be changed forever as a result.

See below how our solutions can enable you to respond to the growing demand for your diagnostic imaging services, address potential staff shortages, and enhance your overall imaging workflow. 

Digital Transformation - What it means for radiology

Emerging trends and shifting market dynamics are likely to have a major impact on imaging departments worldwide in the years to come. Innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and automation are crucial enablers for expanding precision medicine, transforming care delivery, and improving patient experience at your institution.

Radiology departments are faced with a multitude of challenges today like staff shortages, increasing amounts of data, faster and precise diagnosis as well as innovative solutions. There is a need to meet these demands effectively and efficiently.

This is where digital solutions can play an increasingly vital part in transforming radiology. Using digital technologies to turn large amounts of data into insights will support more precise diagnosis, targeted treatment, and greater patient satisfaction. With a strong focus and dedicated efforts towards Intelligent Imaging, AI-powered Clinical Decisions and Streamlined Operations, radiology departments can facilitate better outcomes for patients and increased efficiency for radiologists, to ultimately enable improved patient care.

In this video, you saw what the digital transformation of imaging stands for, and you learned about the three key focus areas to help you make better informed patient-centric decisions. Let us dive a little deeper to understand these three cornerstones and their relevance and impact:

Intelligent imaging

Innovation is central to assist in data acquisition. Intelligent solutions enable you to generate accurate data and faster image interpretation, thereby creating actionable insights. Trendsetting modality innovations empower you to achieve high quality imaging and data interpretation. Often technology isn’t used to its full potential because either the user or the technology is new, or it is a rare exam. The possibilities of digitalization help users efficiently achieve reproducible results - by unlocking the full potential of their medical imaging devices. It guides operators through imaging procedures, so that they can interact easily and naturally with both patient and technology. This has been made possible by myExam Companion that launches this new era of intelligent imaging that works with you to efficiently operate modalities. No matter the user, patient or throughput, it helps generate consistent, comprehensive results with reduced dose.

AI-powered clinical decisions

One of the most pressing concerns in radiology today is the exponential growth of data and the shortage of medical staff to handle this complex and ever-increasing amount of data. Intelligent solutions support radiologists in making better informed clinical decisions and adding value along the patient journey. Through superior integration and interpretation of data and creation of actionable insights, AI-powered solutions pave the way for shaping clinical decisions in radiology and assist radiologists and clinicians in making the right decision for every patient.

Streamlined operations

Along with staff shortages, radiology and imaging departments worldwide are faced with additional pressures like increasing workload. Digitalization can unlock a whole new level of operational performance as well as hidden potential for improvements, helping you operate more efficiently. Digital solutions like remote scanning software, customized dashboards to track targets and KPIs, and digital platforms that enable data-driven decisions along the entire patient pathway can empower you to simplify operations and create smart workflows to help reduce the workload and boost workforce productivity. With innovative solutions that optimize asset utilization and help increase efficiency, you can dedicate more time and focus on providing best possible patient care.

At Siemens Healthineers, we focus on these three areas to support you with the challenges of today and tomorrow. So let’s explore our offerings across these three themes.

AI is no doubt a hotly discussed topic today. Over the years, it has been gradually integrated into radiology in several different ways. It is a valuable tool that, when combined with the human expertise of radiologists and clinicians, offers vast potential to the healthcare industry.

AI

Therefore, AI will not reduce the need for imaging but will reduce the burden of doing basic repetitive tasks and may potentially decrease the need for specialization in image interpretation. AI can help make it easier to interpret imaging findings for radiologists (and other medical personnel) with different levels of expertise, – something that could, incidentally, be extremely helpful in pandemics, where there is an incredibly high number of patients that need healthcare services in a short period of time.

Thanks to digitalization and the increasing use of AI, there could be less routine reporting which would enable radiologists to spend more time with patients and focus on complex cases. With the help of AI, radiologists could also save time on operating diagnostic machines and focus on collaborating with other disciplines. This could contribute to radiology becoming more interventional, combining diagnostic information with more personalized, image-guided therapy.

In short: Within the healthcare system, radiologists will be the catalysts of the digital and personalized medicine transformation. AI will not replace radiologists but help to stay at the pulse of medicine and innovation and drive change across disciplines for the benefit of patients.

Hear it from the thought leaders in Healthcare

Hear it from the thought leaders in Healthcare

In Good Company: How Radiology Benefits Emergency Care

Dr. Bernd Montag, CEO Siemens Healthineers
Dr. Bernd Montag, CEO Siemens Healthineers

COVID-19 – Ten hypotheses on what we can learn from the crisis

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