A pilot study of time allocation and reimbursement for routine obstetric ultrasonography.

Abstract

Resource use within the ultrasonography department may be improved by reassigning clerical and custodial duties from sonographers to other personnel. Although differential reimbursement exists, no statistically significant difference in resource use between initial and repeated examinations was found.

It's About Time

“…Stewart et al 1 found that 37% of sonographer time is spent performing nonimaging data entry and custodial tasks. With salaries for sonographers on the rise, it has always made sense to me that less expensive medical assistants be employed by midsize to large ultrasound imaging departments to assist in duties such as facilitating patient flow, data entry, restocking supplies, and room preparation and cleanup.…”

“…Stewart et al 1 failed to evaluate or discuss the nonimaging, but professional, duties performed by the sonographer. The sonographer's responsibilities have grown over the years.…”

“…Li et al 1 report that only 75 cases have been cited in the English literature. Although many theories have been postulated, the cause of this embryologic development of duplicated testicles is uncertain.…”

“…The September 2001 issue of the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine featured an article by Stewart et al 1 that investigated sonographer time allocation for routine obstetric ultrasonography. The authors concluded that the average time spent with each patient was 15 minutes and 22 seconds and the period of time dedicated to transducer manipulation was 9 minutes and 30 seconds per patient.…”

Three-dimensional Fetal Brain Volumes

“…16 The viability of the volume measurement of Endres and Cohen is questionable because, "Each volume was obtained in approximately 10 minutes." At a time when insurance and health maintenance organization corporations, as well as others, are urging sonographers to do more examinations, with fewer measurements, in less and less time, [22][23][24][25] it is doubtful that more time-consuming methods will gain widespread acceptance in the current economic atmosphere. This is a subject that is important to sonography and clearly needs more research now that true 3D imaging is available to us.…”