Purpose
To identify factors important to patients for their return to elective imaging during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Methods
In all, 249 patients had elective MRIs postponed from March 23, 2020, to April 24, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of these patients, 99 completed a 22-question survey about living arrangement and health care follow-up, effect of imaging postponement, safety of imaging, and factors important for elective imaging. Mann-Whitney
U
, Fisher’s exact, χ
2
tests, and logistic regression analyses were performed. Statistical significance was set to
P
≤ .05 with Bonferroni correction applied.
Results
Overall, 68% of patients felt imaging postponement had no impact or a small impact on health, 68% felt it was fairly or extremely safe to obtain imaging, and 53% thought there was no difference in safety between hospital-based and outpatient locations. Patients who already had imaging performed or rescheduled were more likely to feel it was safe to get an MRI (odds ratio [OR] 3.267,
P
= .028) and that the hospital setting was safe (OR 3.976,
P
= .004). Staff friendliness was the most important factor related to an imaging center visit (95% fairly or extremely important). Use of masks by staff was the top infection prevention measure (94% fairly or extremely important). Likelihood of rescheduling imaging decreased if a short waiting time was important (OR = 0.107,
P
= .030).
Conclusion
As patients begin to feel that it is safe to obtain imaging examinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, many factors important to their imaging experience can be considered by radiology practices when developing new strategies to conduct elective imaging.
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