DVMinsight is a PLATFORM dozens of radiologists and teleradology companies around the world use to run their teleradiology service. The data usage pattern of the DVMinsight servers reflects the teleradiology workflow patterns of the clinics sending cases to The PLATFORM and the radiologists interpreting these images. Day after day, week after week, the data usage pattern is similar. The following is the data usage from one day on the DVMinsight servers.
A defined peak caseload distribution
As you can see, cases are generally sent to the server (green lines - inbound to DVMI) toward the middle to the end of the day. Although radiographs are obtained throughout the day (presumably veterinarians see cases throughout the day) on first look it would seem odd that there is a mid/late day distribution to the caseload.
In discussions with numerous clinics, it is clear that there is a reason for this pattern. The majority of the clinics we talk with batch their uploads twce daily. Teleradiology referrals are sent at the same time as they batch their other lab tests when they are sent out for courrier pickup. This generally happens at mid-day and/or before closing.
This practice of batching all lab referrals has significant implications for veterinary radiologists.
•Radiology is a service industry. Cases are available to be read when they are available. This means radiologists (at least the ones who want to make money interpreting images) should plan on having the heaviest caseload later in the day.
•Radiologists living on the West Coast have an advantage when it comes to employability (unless a radiologists living on the east coast is a nightowl) because their normal workday coincides with the greatest number of cases available to be read.
Even though there is mid/late day distribution - there is a substantial baseline of cases arriving throughout the day
Although there is a clear and defined peak when most cases are sent and interpreted, there is a baseline of cases coming in throughout the day. The cases in this basline are either cases that are autorouted to the DVMinsight Image bank for archiving or these are stat/urgent cases that vets do not want to wait on. Although it is clear that that majority of cases do not require a super-fast turnaround time (they are batched twice daily) veterinary radiologists must be able to provide their clients with around the clock coverage and offer STAT turnarounds for cases arriving during "baseline" hours1. Radiologists, however, are urged not to get too carried away with report turnaround. These graphs (and discussions with our clients) seem to indicate that the majority of the cases are not urgent which would indicate that report turnaround time is not the primary consideration most of the time. Focus on the quality of your reports. Speed is a secondary consideration for most veterinarians.
Important information can also be found in the DVMinsight Upload Data
The distribution of uploads from the DVMinsight servers (corresponding to the download patterns of radiologists using the PLATFORM) also yields interesting information. The blue line on this graph is interesting to you because you are looking at your competition as they work. Your competition is downloading image data in near real time relative to when the data is hitting the DVMinsight servers. Assuming that radiologists interpret their images shortly after they download the image data, it is clear that when considered as a population, veterinary radiologists using the DVMinsight platform are reporting their cases in quasi-real time.
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1. It is very easy to offer your clinics 24-7 coverage with the DVMinsight NIGHTOWL service. Contact us for details about how you can offer your clnics 24-7 coverage so you can compete with the big boys.