Emergency patients at St. Joseph’s Health Centre in Toronto’s west end can now receive CT scans and have them interpreted overnight through a partnership with St. Michael’s Hospital. According to Unity Health Toronto, the arrangement has shortened emergency department stays and helped clinicians make diagnoses sooner.
The overnight CT reporting project connects an on-site technologist at St. Joseph’s with emergency radiologists at St. Michael’s. Patients can have their scans interpreted in as little as an hour, although turnaround depends on capacity and demand, Unity Health says.
Previously, emergency patients at St. Joseph’s had to wait until daytime to undergo a CT scan and receive the results, according to the hospital network. That delay contributed to long stays in the emergency department, prompting the St. Joseph’s team to seek a partnership with Toronto Radiology, the radiologist practice at St. Michael’s.
The scans support overnight decisions about conditions including head injuries, bleeding and fractures. Under the new arrangement, the technologist performs the scan at St. Joseph’s and securely sends the images to St. Michael’s for interpretation.
Using an existing overnight team
St. Michael’s is a Level 1 trauma centre, and its radiologist practice has had an Emergency Radiology division for six years. Radiologists there are available around the clock to interpret scans for critical cases.
Dr. Anish Kirpalani, chief of the Department of Medical Imaging at St. Michael’s, said the collaboration allows emergency radiologists who are already in the hospital overnight to support patients at another Unity Health site. The emergency radiology team interpreting the scans is led by Dr. Robert Moreland.
For St. Joseph’s patients and clinicians, the arrangement provides access to imaging results without the previous hours-long wait or the need to return the following day, Unity Health says. The two hospitals have continued working together to maintain overnight reporting after seeing success from the program’s launch.
Dr. Tara Williams, chief of Diagnostic Imaging at St. Joseph’s, described the partnership as a successful collaboration that has improved patient care. Unity Health also reports that emergency physicians and staff at St. Joseph’s have welcomed the efficiency it has brought to the department.
Dr. Joan Cheng, chief of the Emergency Department at St. Joseph’s, said the program has helped her team make diagnoses while improving patient safety and outcomes. She said access to advanced imaging now continues alongside emergency care overnight.
