by
Gus Iversen, Editor in Chief | November 27, 2017
From the November 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Once the assessment indicates the need for imaging, the correctional facility’s physician writes an order for the exam. At that point, McMann contacts Kansas Mobile Solutions with the request for services and a mobile radiologic technologist or diagnostic sonographer is dispatched to the facility.
Once they have arrived at the facility, they are escorted by staff to the medical department at the jail. The technologist or sonographer verifies the order is valid, and then is taken to an exam room where the X-ray or ultrasound takes place.
Aside from the security that is provided for the Kansas Mobile Solutions staff member, the imaging exam does not require any unique precautions.
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Although providing medical imaging to prison inmates
creates certain challenges, the team at Kansas Mobile
Solutions says it also simplifies certain aspects of workflow
“The exam precautions are no different than any other imaging exam,” says Tina L. Brown, LRT (R), director of mobile operations for Kansas Mobile Solutions. “The reduction of radiation exposure to the inmate, the technologist and the surrounding environment is always at the forefront of the technologist’s mind, regardless of where we perform the exam.”
The routine X-ray and ultrasound exams that take place at the jail are actually less challenging than at most places, according to Brown, who credits that to an environment that is “consistent, clinical and controlled.”
This contrasts preferably to the mobile imaging challenges Kansas Mobile Solutions deals with elsewhere, like having to perform exams in environments that aren’t clinical or imaging elderly patients who may present challenges due to loss of bone density or dementia, for example.
Brown describes most of the patients at the jail as “able-bodied and cooperative,” adding that, “this place is run very efficiently and the staff is very involved in the process. Having that kind of support makes our job easier.”
Faster turnaround for better outcomes
After the images are obtained, the sonographer or radiologic technologist sends the exam wirelessly to a PACS.
“Oftentimes, the study has reached the PACS before the technologist has loaded up and called in for their next assignment,” says Brown. “Once the study has reached the PACS, it is available for any of our radiologists to read.”
