Apr06 eBroadcast - The Story of The Women's Center for Radiology

Digital mammography and reduced callback

The protocols for image reading in Brazil differ from those in the U.S. and some other countries because there is no official screening program. At URP, immediately after images are taken, a physician reads them, consults the patient's history and will often talk to the patient or perform any additional physical exam that's needed all in the same visit. In a city the size of São Paulo, which covers 588 square miles and is home to over 11 million paulistas (as the city's residents are known), callbacks for second readings can be extremely inconvenient. Fortunately, Selenia has helped URP lower their mammogram callback rate to less than two percent.

With a combined workload of over 20.000 annual mammograms at two clinical imaging sites, the presence of a dedicated, highly-skilled team is a must. URPs 36-person clinical team is one of the best. "When a patient calls to make an appointment, very often she asks not for a doctor, but for a specific technologist," Dr. Belfer said. "This is the most fantastic thing because that's the ideal. Our technologists need to feel that they're as important as anybody else on the team."

Exceptional patient care

"Our physicians do what we call clinical radiology," Dr. Belfer says, "That means every patient that comes for an exam is put in contact with a physician. The physician sees why he's doing each exam and customizes the exam if necessary and orients the technologist on how to do it." The patient-physician relationship is augmented by 14 years of onsite previous exam reports and a brief clinical history. This way, physicians have an overall imaging portrait of their patients, which helps to keep patients connected to the practice. "Sometimes you'll get to talk to a patient who is there for her annual breast exam and be able to ask about other issues. This may lead to a bone density examination or other radiology services. You build a relationship with the patient; it's very close."

“With an unflagging commitment to innovative practice management, advanced imaging technology, and exceptional patient care, Dr. Belfer and his colleagues at URP see their practice as the women's imaging leader in Sao Paulo and they are working hard to stay that way.

Dr. Belfer continues to leverage the PACS system he developed in 1994 as a practice builder. In addition to scanning previous screen-film images, digital records will also be kept in the PACS. While the patients still must keep their own films, URP will offer an added convenience. "We tell our patients that they don't have to worry about bringing their films," Dr. Belfer said. "We have everything here. So that means the patient will come back to the same clinic."