Imaging delays among medical inpatients in Toronto, Ontario: A cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Imaging procedures are commonly performed on hospitalized patients and waiting for these could increase length-of-stay. The study objective was to quantify delays for imaging procedures in General Internal Medicine and identify contributing patient, physician, and system factors.

Methods

This was a retrospective cohort study of medical inpatients admitted to 5 hospitals in Toronto, Ontario (2010-2019), with at least one imaging procedure (CT, MRI, ultrasound, or peripherally-inserted central catheter [PICC] insertion). The primary outcome was time-to-test, and the secondary outcome was acute length-of-stay after test ordering.

Results

The study cohort included 73,107 hospitalizations. Time-to-test was longest for MRI (median 22 hours) and shortest for CT (m

SUBMITTER: Bartsch E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9897551 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature