While hospitals are equipped to handle a multitude of emergencies and health problems,
there is considerable room for improvement when it comes to integrating aspects of a patient’s personal routine into the hospital stay. Small but significant changes could improve the overall patient experience and increase the sense of independence without endangering the level of medical care.
Patient satisfaction is a crucial and one of the most commonly used indicators for measuring quality at any diagnostic center. It has a positive effect on clinical improvement, patient adherence and retention, job satisfaction, and appropriate clinical care by pathologists. On the other hand, the mismatch between patient expectations and the service received leads to dissatisfaction and poor patient outcome. Therefore, Sonoscan Diagnostic Centre-one of South India’s reputed imaging lab, sustaining patient satisfaction is sacrosanct. But to achieve this, Sonoscan thoroughly banks on technology that facilities them to maintain precision, faster TAT, higher image quality, and better diagnostic mechanism. Dr. S. Boopathy Vijayaraghavan explains how ultrasound technology has helped him attain the highest quality standards and precision in their reporting, driving them to be one of India’s creditable imaging lab chain
IMPROVING PATIENT EXPERIENCE THROUGH INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY
The past decade has witnessed significant developments in ultrasound technologies ranging from portable devices, wireless transducers to 3-D/4-D ultrasound imaging and artificial intelligence. These advances have increased the productivity of clinicians and the overall quality of patient care. At Sonoscan, ultrasound systems such as DC-80 with X-Insight have facilitated them to focus on improving the overall quality of patient care. The DC-80 with X-Insight offers a complete elastography solution with the best-in-class shear wave and strain elastography for tissue stiffness assessment, UWN+ CEUS and quantitative analysis tools for vascular perfusion analysis, Depth VR for vivid 3D/4D with depth perception, tissue tracking for regional myocardial analysis and more.
"Quality of patient care, time spent at the center, ambiance, hygiene, and quality of equipment are crucial to me as a healthcare provider. Moreover, patient experience has become a very important indicator of quality. Therefore, right from the very inception we at Sonoscan have focused on improving patient experience and satisfaction and have looked for technologies that help us achieve this”, says Dr. S. Boopathy Vijayaraghavan Moreover, clinical value is a primary factor that governs patient care provision. Hence at Sonoscan, technologies that ensure precision are a preferred choice.
Dr. S. Boopathy Vijayaraghavan goes on to say that precision in diagnosis goes a long way for appropriate and better clinical management of the patient which improves the overall patient care and satisfaction. It is very important to build up the practice and for better clinical outcomes. Ultrasound technologies such as DC-80 with X-Insight have mechanisms that improve turn-around time, imaging picture quality, precision, user-friendliness, and patient comfort.
AI AIDING INTELLIGENT SOLUTIONS IN ULTRASOUND IMAGING
There is growing energy towards AI applications in the radiological domain. There are higher expectations that AI will enable a profoundly different generation of imaging products with the potential to unlock significant clinical and economic value in the longer term. So, systems like DC 80 X Insight have some promising signs of value-adding AI solutions being brought to market.
For instance, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled system ensures diagnostic confidence, it enables efficiency, consistency and accuracy. Dr. S. Boopathy Vijayaraghavan explains, “The technology has features like Smart CNS, Smart FH greatly reduced the scanning time. Such features increase the throughput for patients and ensure better clinical outcomes For more clarity at hand, DC-80 with X-Insight delivers express clarity as soon as the transducer touches the body. The system also has a newly conceptualized X-Engine integrated with both GPU and CPU enables multi-core parallel processing for fast imaging and superb clarity. With the advanced imaging engine, the imaging processing speed is accelerated three or four times faster than traditional processing, resulting in extremely fast imaging and superb clarity for 3D/4D and other applications.
The Glazing flow mechanism is a breakthrough and a brand-new way to demonstrate the color doppler flow in a 3D visualization. It can provide intuitive and easy visualization of blood flow structures, especially in very tiny vessels. It’s helpful for the boundary definition of crossing vessels too. and is a great boon to diagnostic imaging, expresses Dr. S. Boopathy Vijayaraghavan speakings about the image quality and precision, Dr. S. Boopathy Vijayaraghavan shares, “The combination of X-insight technology with single crystal probe has made the image quality uniform from near to far-field. For example, the tissue differentiation between the liver and kidneys in fetal imaging studies is very good and is essential. The precision in color has made it more sensitive in visualizing the fetal renal arteries and in endometrial flows.” While the technological prowess that DC 80 Insight displays, adopting this technology has brought more confidence to the Sonoscan team. “With AI and gesture-sensitive touch screen, juggling between the knobs has reduced and it is easier to use the machine now. Plus, advanced healthcare solutions at various segments have created new magic in delivering better diagnosis at all levels. Hence, we can view the patient as a whole and devote our time for counseling as well.”
ENABLING CONTINUED LEARNING
As Dr. S. Boopathy Vijayaraghavan rightly pointed out that for better patient care, it is not only important to deliver better clinical results but to guide patients with emotional support and counseling. And above all, it is very significant to facilitate learning and education to advance radiological practice. “SONOSCAN commenced its service in April 1984. We were the only ultrasound service for a large geographical area of west Tamilnadu and entire Kerala for many years. Hence, we started training physicians from this region to improve radiological services which became very popular in a short period. In the last three decades, we have expanded our training programs in radiological services for physicians from other parts of India and neighboring countries for three decades. We kept constantly updating ourselves both in knowledge, newer ultrasound technologies, and equipment that helped us to become numero uno in all these years. Even during the pandemic, we haven’t stopped our training programs. We started virtual web-based programs on www.sonoshare.in." Interestingly, the company has played a vital role in enhancing physician education. Dr. S. Boopathy Vijayaraghavan informs about the company’s clinical sessions for clinicians at different levels that embarked a new wave in teaching. He goes on to share, “WCC series where the Sonoscan team was involved, indeed gave a classroom experience. This created magic among ultrasound practitioners.
INNOVATIONS THAT MATTER
While creating learning opportunities, we at Sonoscan have also kept in mind that innovation uncovers a brand-new user experience. It helps in developing reliable solutions. Dr. S. Boopathy Vijayaraghavan looks forward to the advancement of the DC-80 with X-Insight series as he intends to continue playing his part in transforming India’s healthcare scenario.
