The operation of a radiology consultation service in an acute care hospital

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Abstract
The operation of a radiology consultation service in an acute care teaching hospital is described. The radiologist acts as an active advisor in the structuring of diagnostic evaluations in 3 disease categories; biliary tract disease, nonemergency gastrointestinal tract bleeding and abdominal mass. There was a 64% reduction in the time needed to establish a diagnosis and a 32% decrease in the number of studies for each patient on the consultation ward compared to a control group, which consisted of patients with similar clinical presentations. A formal partnership between clinician and radiologist serves 2 important functions in teaching hospitals. It can simultaneously expedite diagnostic evaluations and teach the best utilization of imaging examinations.

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