Dumb question about teleradiology.

[WashMe]

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What keeps teleradiology from being the most bomb@$$ job of all time?

I've been looking into it lately, and I just can't help but love the idea of working full-time from home and having a crazy computer with like 4 screens (anatomy and awesome computers all day --- somebody pinch me I must be dreaming). It would be well worth working just nights/weekends (maybe ~26 weeks/yr, alternating on/off) and paying for malpractice insurance.

 

[Handy388]

hours? I didn't go to med school so I can be on call, at night, everyday, for the rest of my life.

 

[Kickback]

It is awesome for those of us who like computers. It sounds awesome for me as well, I love anatomy and computers. But many people are going into medicine for patient contact, and the hands-on capability to heal people.

Even as awesome as it may sound, there may be an issue with communication. It seems that with Radiologists, one of the main sources of malpractice suits is miss-communication with the clinicians, and forgetting to communicate certain details. Not being able to describe this in person may be an issue, but as I am not even in medical school, I couldn't tell you this for sure.

 

[MrBurns10]

Telerads jobs aren't the most stable, and the earning power is a lot less than in private practice. There is a poster on the rads forum here who does teleradiology and he seems to love it, but I think it would be a bit too isolated for me.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Cause they could possibly end up shipping those readings overseas.

 

[Forbes]

Cause they could possibly end up shipping those readings overseas.

Wouldn't that compromise quality a wee bit?

 

[Bacchus]

Wouldn't that compromise quality a wee bit?

Its already happening.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Wouldn't that compromise quality a wee bit?

MGH is already doing it. Granted the first time they miss a glaring diagnosis, it may put an end to that. Who knows? Ill defer this to the current radiologists/residents.

 

[WashMe]

Hopefully it is still a domestic option down the road. As far as the job stability of going telerad-- does it really matter? Say you work for a few years from home and it's not working out how you thought it would... you would have some experience under your belt and would probably have no problem finding a traditional job rapidly.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

Its already happening.

I was talking to a doc in a smaller market (is market the right term?). He said they use an Indian rad service at night b/c it's cheaper than hiring another rad to work the night shift. This way their small rad staff doesn't have to be on call 24/7.

He didn't think it would be a great option for larger urban areas.

 

[JaggerPlate]

I was talking to a doc in a smaller market (is market the right term?). He said they use an Indian rad service at night b/c it's cheaper than hiring another rad to work the night shift. This way their small rad staff doesn't have to be on call 24/7.

He didn't think it would be a great option for larger urban areas.

That must be private practice right?? I was under the impression that hospitals etc by law had to use a radiologist on US soil to read scans??

 

[JaggerPlate]

What keeps teleradiology from being the most bomb@$$ job of all time?

I've been looking into it lately, and I just can't help but love the idea of working full-time from home and having a crazy computer with like 4 screens (anatomy and awesome computers all day --- somebody pinch me I must be dreaming). It would be well worth working just nights/weekends (maybe ~26 weeks/yr, alternating on/off) and paying for malpractice insurance.

Talk to ApacheIndian in the RADS forum. He does this and thinks it's amazing. A lot of people disagree with him on the boards, who knows ...

 

[MrBurns10]

As far as shipping overseas goes, it does happen. But the caveat is that the final read can only come from a doctor trained in the US. So shipping overseas is kind of like having a resident read for you overnight...they can give an initial read, but you still have to give the final call the next morning.

What some groups have done is ship one of their own employees overseas. I've heard of US practices that rent/buy a place in France and each employee goes over there for 2 months out of the year. And for those two months, they're reading films during the day, which just so happens to be the practices' overnight films. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me (though I'd opt for Spain 😛).