Imaging delays among medical inpatients in Toronto, Ontario: A cohort study

Abstract

Background Imaging procedures are commonly performed on hospitalized patients and waiting for these could increase length-of-stay. The study objective was to quantify delays for imaging procedures in General Internal Medicine and identify contributing patient, physician, and system factors. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of medical inpatients admitted to 5 hospitals in Toronto, Ontario (2010–2019), with at least one imaging procedure (CT, MRI, ultrasound, or peripherally-inserted central catheter [PICC] insertion). The primary outcome was time-to-test, and the secondary outcome was acute length-of-stay after test ordering. Results The study cohort included 73,107 hospitalizations. Time-to-test was longest for MRI (median 22 hours) and shortest for CT (median 7 hours). The greatest contributors to time-to-test were system factors such as hospital site (up to 22 additional hours), location of test ordering (up to 10 additional hours), the timing of test ordering relative to admission (up to 13 additional hours), and ordering during weekends (up to 21 additional hours). Older patient age, having more comorbidities, and residence in a low-income neighborhood were also associated with testing delays. Each additional hour spent waiting for a test was associated with increased acute length-of-stay after test ordering, ranging from 0.4 additional hours for CT to 1.2 hours for MRI. Conclusions The greatest contributors to testing delays relate to when and where a test was ordered. Wait times affect length-of-stay and the quality of patient care. Hospitals can apply our novel approach to explore opportunities to decrease testing delays locally.

Advanced imaging use and delays among inpatients with psychiatric comorbidity

“…While there is ample evidence that the care provided in hospital to patients with psychiatric illness is different than for patients without psychiatric illness, this is the first study, to our knowledge, to evaluate whether the use of inpatient imaging and associated waiting time is impacted by the presence of a psychiatric comorbidity. We have previously shown that delays in advanced imaging are associated with longer length of stay in hospital (Bartsch et al, 2023); therefore, disparities in wait times for advanced imaging between patients with and without psychiatric comorbidity could serve as one explanation for longer length of stay observed among patients with psychiatric comorbidity.…”