Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Radiol. Aug 28, 2022; 14(8): 293-310
Published online Aug 28, 2022. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v14.i8.293
Imaging volumes during COVID-19: A Victorian health service experience
Jo-Anne Pinson, My Linh Diep, Vinay Krishnan, Caroline Aird, Cassie Cooper, Christopher Leong, Jeff Chen, Nicholas Ardley, Eldho Paul, Mohamed Khaldoun Badawy
Jo-Anne Pinson, My Linh Diep, Vinay Krishnan, Caroline Aird, Cassie Cooper, Christopher Leong, Jeff Chen, Nicholas Ardley, Mohamed Khaldoun Badawy, Monash Health Imaging, Monash Health, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia
Jo-Anne Pinson, Department of Medical Imaging, Peninsula Health, Melbourne, Victoria 3099, Australia
Jo-Anne Pinson, Mohamed Khaldoun Badawy, Department of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences, School of Allied Health Care, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
Eldho Paul, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia
Author contributions: Pinson JA, Badawy MK, designed and coordinated the study; Pinson JA, Badawy MK, Diep ML, Krishnan V, Aird C, Cooper C, Leong C, Chen J, Paul E and Ardley N performed the data collection, analysed and interpreted the data; Pinson JA, Badawy MK, Diep ML, Krishnan V, Aird C, Cooper C, Leong C, Chen J, Paul E and Ardley N wrote the manuscript; all authors have read, edited and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Monash Health Human Research Ethics Committee Institutional Review Board [(Approval No. QA/69362/MonH-2020-235260(v1))].
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to the study because the analysis used anonymous clinical data that were obtained after each patient agreed to treatment by written consent. For full disclosure, the details of the study are published on the home page of Fukushima Medical University.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We have no financial relationships to disclose.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at mohamed.badawy@monashhealth.org.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mohamed Khaldoun Badawy, BSc, MSc, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Senior Scientist, Monash Health Imaging, Monash Health, 246 Clayton Road, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia. mohamed.badawy@monashhealth.org
Received: March 16, 2022
Peer-review started: March 16, 2022
First decision: June 16, 2022
Revised: July 7, 2022
Accepted: July 20, 2022
Article in press: July 20, 2022
Published online: August 28, 2022
Processing time: 163 Days and 3.8 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Medical imaging modalities worldwide were significantly impacted by the the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; however, each country's experience differed. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the impact on adult, paediatric, inpatient, outpatient, emergency and mobile services across the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in a large public health network in Victoria, Australia.

Research motivation

This work provides evidence for managing and redeploying resources during "once in a lifetime" events such as a pandemic and impact duration. Using this work, modelling and forecasting anticipated changes to imaging demand can be performed, allowing optimal utilisation of departmental staffing to manage workloads.

Research objectives

To identify adult and paediatric imaging volume changes, including mobile imaging across a large Victorian public hospital network. We realised our objectives, and the findings highlighted significant differences across the modalities analysed. Future research could monitor the long-term impacts of such events, such as staff burnout or opportunities for additional training to address deficiencies identified.

Research methods

The use of statistical methods in data analysis highlighted the modalities, patient classes and differences between adult and paediatric imaging. Particularly, methods to identify any correlation between mobile and non-mobile imaging volumes were novel.

Research results

We identified that the greatest impact occurred in Nuclear Medicine during the first and second waves, with all modalities less affected during the second wave; other modalities such as computed tomography were less impacted, requiring greater resources to manage service demand. We observed a shift in regions imaged using mobile imaging. It would be essential to understand this impact regarding image quality, workflow and patient radiation dose.

Research conclusions

Medical imaging modality services across a large Victorian public health network were significantly affected during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the impact on different modalities varied relative to studies performed in other countries. It is essential to have a broad perspective of the impact to each imaging modality in both the adult and paediatric context to help better address the need for workflow changes. It is essential to consider whether imaging services are inversely correlated to manage optimal departmental resourcing.

Research perspectives

Future research could further investigate the long-term impact of lockdowns and the pandemic on imaging modality volumes and their recovery. This can help inform future budgeting requirements regarding the need for additional equipment and staffing to manage continuous workflow demands.