It is no secret that we aren’t at our best when we are tired or overworked. A recent study published in Radiology(1) found that radiologists also are more likely to make mistakes or misread a digital breast tomosynthesis when they are fatigued. There were other factors considered as part of the study, such as time of day, and experience level of the radiologist.
The study examined when false positive readings took place and it was identified that the readings took place later in the day. As the radiologist becomes more exhausted from the increasing workload, there is more of a likelihood of a false positive reading. One suggestion from the researcher is more regular breaks throughout the day for the radiologist.
A break would be great, but that doesn’t stop the patient volume, it just spaces out the time between readings. That may help reduce the false positives, but the radiologist may work even longer hours as a result. That can result in fatigue as well.
Additionally, reading many screening exams without interruption, or batch-reading, has repeatedly proven to improve radiologist performance(2), so interruptions can also be counter-productive
How AI Can Help?
Artificial Intelligence has been around in many forms for years. Within the radiology sector, software has helped radiologists have a safety net for reading mammograms. MammoScreen®, which is now FDA cleared for use on both 2D and 3D, uses AI and displays a score that identifies and characterizes images thus increasing productivity by up to 35% when reading Tomo.
One benefit of MammoScreen® is that radiologists can more comfortably and quickly review cases in the MammoScreen Score™1-4 green range (75% of the cases). That allows them to concentrate further on the cases that are of higher difficulty. This approach helps with workload and allows radiologists to have less fatigue throughout the day while improving their performance in cancer detection.
Discover more about our product MammoScreen® here.
AI can accelerate your workload, find more cancers and can certainly alleviate some of the stress of constant interruptions. Book a free, 10-minute demo today.
(1) Radiology Study
(2)Batch Reading and Interrupted Studies