A new AJR study out of NYU just provided what might be the first significant insights into how patient-friendly video reports might impact radiologists and patients.
Leveraging a new Visage 7 video feature and 3D rendering from Siemens Healthineers, NYU organized a four-month study that encouraged and evaluated patient-centered video reports (w/ simple video + audio explanations).
During the study period, just 105 out of 227 NYU radiologists created videos, resulting in 3,763 total video reports. The videos were included within NYU’s standard radiology reports and made available via its patient portal.
The video reports added an average of 4 minutes of recording time to radiologists’ workflows (± 2:21), with abnormal reports understandably taking longer than normal reports (5:30 vs. 4:15; still statistically similar). The authors admitted that video creation has to get faster in order to achieve clinical adoption, revealing plans to use standardized voice macros to streamline this process.
Patients viewed just 864 unique video reports, leaving 2,899 videos unviewed. However, when NYU moved the video links above the written section late in the study period, the share of patients who watched their videos jumped from 20% to 40%. Patients who watched the videos also really liked them:
- Patients scored their overall video report experiences a 4.7 out of 5
- The videos’ contribution to patients’ diagnostic understanding also scored 4.7 of 5
- 56% of patients reported reduced anxiety due to the videos (via 1% increased)
- 91% of patients preferred video + written reports (vs. 2% w/ written-only)
Although not the videos’ intended audience, referring physicians viewed 214 unique video reports, and anecdotes suggested that the videos helped referrers explain findings to their patients.
The Takeaway
We’ve covered plenty of studies showing that patients want to review their radiology reports, but struggle to understand them. We’ve also seen plenty of suggestions that radiologists want to improve their visibility to patients and highlight their role in patient care.
This study shows that video reports could satisfy both of those needs, while confirming that adopting video reporting wouldn’t require significant infrastructure changes (if your PACS supports video), but they would add four minutes to radiologist reporting workflows.
That doesn’t suggest a major increase in video reporting will come any time soon, especially considering most practices/departments’ focus on efficiency, but it does make future video reporting adoption seem a lot more realistic (or at least possible).
