European Teleradiology now and in the future: Results of an online survey

Abstract

Objectives: To obtain an overview of teleradiology usage within Europe, to evaluate the current opinion and future vision about this technique. Methods: A web-based survey targeted at active radiologists throughout Europe. Results: A total of 368 radiology professionals participated in the survey. Among them 65 % currently use teleradiology. The main usages are in-house image distribution (71 %) and on-call readings from home (44 %). The major advantages are improved collaboration with other radiologists (46 %) and efficient distribution of workload (38 %). Outsourcing is performed by 35 % of the participants, among them 68 % use commercial services. The major advantages of outsourcing are availability of second opinions (82 %) and additional capacity for on-call services (71 %). The major disadvantages are insufficient integration of patient history and priors (69 %), and limited communication with clinicians (68 %). The majority expressed a positive opinion regarding the future of teleradiology (80 %) predicting a growing importance (46 %). Opportunities ought to be found in emergency reading services, flexible support of small practices and in collaborative platforms. Conclusions: A wide usage of teleradiology throughout Europe is perceived; however usage of commercial services is relatively limited. Regarding cross-border services, there is a great demand for a focused Pan-European legislation, an adapted price regulation and a quality assurance framework. Main Messages: A wide variety of teleradiology applications exist in Europe Implementation mainly occurs in countries with a high concentration of networked PACS Usage of commercial teleradiology services in Europe is relatively limited Language is an unsolved issue and limiting factor for further deployment of services There is a demand for a Pan-European legislation, price regulation and quality assurance framework © 2012 The Author(s).