Across the radiology industry, a number of different techniques are being developed to help radiologists cope with overburdened departments and burnout. Intelerad Medical Systems, in mid-2021, provided national radiology group Strategic Radiology with cloud-based imaging software to help streamline workflow for its 1,300 members. Meanwhile, GE Healthcare has introduced a new piece of radiology hardware in the form of Definium Tempo, an overhead digital X-ray device that is meant as a personal assistant to radiologists.
The common theme with these new solutions is addressing overworked and overburdened radiologists in the midst of the pandemic. In May of 2021, the Association of University Radiologists held an academic-industry discussion that involved 16 radiologists and 14 industry leaders, each one from a different society or major company. Among themselves, they agreed that the pressure of the pandemic had highlighted the need for radiologists to address the mental health of radiologists as well as reckon with issues in patient accessibility and supply chain disruptions, with the hope that the industry will see greater responsibility for the challenges it faces from those who can address them.
