Easing radiology technologist workloads and reducing patient waiting times with Remote Scanning¹

In fall 2022, the waiting list at the Radiologische Zentrum Wolfratshausen in Germany had grown so long, the center decided to introduce additional opening hours for MR exams. But, of course, performing scans requires experienced qualified experts. The center’s radiology technologists had long reached the limits of their capacity and trying to recruit new staff was usually a futile exercise. The solution? Remote Scanning.

For years now, there have been countless unfilled radiology technologist positions across Germany and patients have complained about excessively long waiting times for scans. As a result, for medical practices to increase their capacity it is not as simple as just posting a “We’re hiring full-time technologists” ad. The shortage of qualified experts demands new strategies.

One way of supplementing radiology technologist hours and optimizing human resources is to offer Remote Scanning. The technology required for this is provided by syngo Virtual Cockpit²—a software solution for Remote Scanning assistance.

With Remote Scanning, radiology technologists support the imaging process remotely. These technologists might be permanent staff working from home or experts from the pool of technologists accessed via the WeScan³ service from Siemens Healthineers, with the latter logging on to the hospital system as external service providers. In both cases, Remote Scanning opens up new ways for radiological practices to deploy their team more flexibly and bridge staff bottlenecks. Most importantly, it eases staff workload on a daily basis and avoids the need for overtime.

“If you’ve got good staff, you want to protect them from excessive stress. So you really need to avoid overloading them with more and more work,” explains Gerda Wachter-Klabuschnig, MD, owner of the Radiologische Zentrum Wolfratshausen. When, in late 2022, the waiting list for an MRI scan at Wachter-Klabuschnig’s center in the Bavarian Oberland region was becoming longer and longer with patients having to wait an average of seven weeks for a scan, the time was ripe for something new. For an initial three-month trial period, the practice offered additional appointments every second Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Since Wolfratshausen’s radiology technologists were already working at full capacity with the regular practice hours, they should not have been accruing overtime at weekends as well. And in the end, they didn’t need to: This is exactly the kind of situation that Siemens Healthineers created the WeScan team for. On each of the aforementioned Saturdays, an external technologist worked with the onsite colleague to perform MRI scans. Together, the two made a well-functioning team—the only difference being that the technologist was connected remotely.    

“In order to practice using Remote Scanning, we started by performing the simpler scans with a highly standardized protocol,” explains radiologist Alexander Kalik, MD. We conducted knee or lumbar spine exams. “Run-of-the-mill practice work,” Kalik told us. “Why didn’t we do this before?” Since everything ran so smoothly, the remote radiology technologist was then able to conduct more complex exams using contrast agents. The whole process and the quality of the results was not compromised in any way by the fact that the technologist was offsite.

Remote operation means the technical part of the scan has to be clearly separated from the personal contact with the patient. And this is exactly where the benefits arise, because the technologists have more time for tasks where their professional expertise can make a difference. Medical assistants can then look after the patient and handle the administrative tasks.

The patients are informed that the radiology technologist is not going to be there in person. “That didn’t bother anyone,” recalls medical assistant Lea Vollherbst. She transfers the patient to the scanner, positions them, and stays close by the whole time. This is not necessarily part of the standard job description for a medical assistant; but it is this additional responsibility in particular that Lea Vollherbst is still so thrilled about: “I definitely see working with Remote Scanning as adding value to  my role as medical assistant.”

One weekday, the practice unexpectedly discovered another use case for WeScan. A pregnant radiology technologist was absent and, on top of this, the other two technologists had called in sick at the same time. The practice should technically have cancelled its scanning operations. Technically!

“This was the ideal opportunity to test WeScan as a solution for unexpected bottlenecks,” recalls Goran Vinkovic, senior radiology technologist in Wolfratshausen. Within the hour, Siemens Healthineers had confirmed that one of their radiology technologists would cover the four-hour morning shift and a colleague would step in and oversee the afternoon scans. Vinkovic’s conclusion: “It worked perfectly—both in terms of organization and operation.”

Vinkovic doesn’t regard the external technologists as competition. “We’re just glad that the Remote Scanning solution exists. We regard the use of WeScan experts as a great help.”

Having successfully completed the test phase, the center is planning to establish additional scanning times as the norm. “Remote Scanning is an excellent way of dealing with the shortage of radiology technologists, while better utilizing practice capacity,” says Wachter-Klabuschnig. Moreover, she is convinced that technologist capacity could be increased through this greater flexibility. People looking for a part-time job – experts with family commitments, for instance – are not going to move house for a 20-hour week. Nor is it worth them making a long commute for a four-hour day. If, however, everything takes place in the employee’s home, then things look quite different. “In general, the prospect of working remotely is helping to make the radiology technologist role more attractive, including for people who want to work part-time. This could have an impact on the career paths that young people choose,” predicts Wachter-Klabuschnig. Although it has always been mandatory for radiology technologists to be physically present in the radiology practice or hospital, Remote Scanning is now opening the door to working from home.

Overall, by providing a Saturday service, the center was able to offer nine percent more appointments for the given week. This meant they could relax the tight schedules during the week, reduce waiting times, and bring in additional revenue.

Wachter-Klabuschnig notes: “The question is not whether we should opt for in-person or remote. Given the chronic shortage of qualified experts, the choice that radiology practices are actually facing is: Should we integrate Remote Scanning into our clinical practice and be in a position to offer patients an appointment as soon as possible—or should we make them wait seven weeks?” In the medium and long term, this relies on attracting enough qualified experts. For Gerda Wachter-Klabuschnig, MD, one thing is clear: “If radiology technologists are not making their way to medical practices, those practices must find new ways of reaching the technologists.”