Hospitals collaborate on overnight CTs for ER

TORONTO – An innovative collaboration between St. Joseph’s Health Centre and St. Michael’s Hospital has streamlined care and shortened lengths of stay for emergency department patients in Toronto’s west end.

The overnight CT reporting project speeds up access to CT scan results for emergency patients at St. Joseph’s. The project supports clinicians requiring overnight access to CT scans to diagnose and address everything from head injuries to bleeding and fractures.

At St. Joseph’s, emergency patients used to have to wait until daytime hours to have a CT scan and get the results. Noticing that this was causing long stays for patients in the department, the St. Joseph’s team partnered with the St. Michael’s Radiologist practice, Toronto Radiology, at the Department of Medical Imaging to speed up the imaging process.

St. Michael’s, a Level 1 trauma centre, has had an Emergency Radiology division as part of its Radiologist practice for the past six years. Radiologists are available day and night to interpret scans for critical cases.

“We identified this collaborative opportunity for our St. Michael’s emergency radiologists, who were already here in the hospital overnight. Now they’re able to help patients across Unity Health and decrease the emergency department length of stay at St. Joseph’s Health Centre,” said Dr. Anish Kirpalani, chief of the department of medical imaging at St. Michael’s.

St. Joseph’s now has a technologist on site to run CTs for patients overnight, and the scans are then securely sent to the emergency radiologists, led by Dr. Robert Moreland, at St. Michael’s to interpret. Rather than waiting for hours, or even coming back the next day, St. Joseph’s providers and patients now have access to timely scans.

Dr. Tara Williams, chief of diagnostic imaging at St. Joseph’s, says the program is an example of cross-site collaboration “working for the greater good.”

“It has been a highly successful collaboration between the two hospital groups and has improved patient care,” said Dr. Williams.

Because of the success of the program right from launch, the two hospitals have continued to work together to sustain overnight reporting. Emergency physicians and staff at St. Joseph’s are excited by the partnership and the efficiency it has created for patients, who now have their scans interpreted in as little as an hour depending on capacity and demand.

Dr. Joan Cheng (pictured), chief of the emergency department at St. Joseph’s, said the program has allowed her team to make diagnoses while improving safety and outcomes for patients. It has been a game changer in terms of speed and efficiency for the department.

“Emergency care doesn’t stop when the sun goes down,” said Dr. Cheng. “And now neither does access to advanced imaging.”

By Olivia Lavery