The Prevalence, Practice and Attitude Towards Teleradiology by Radiologists and Radiology Residents in Kenya
Abstract
Background: Teleradiology occurs when a radiologist interprets images away from the centre
where the images were generated. Teleradiology started in the United States, but the practice
has grown globally and is now part of the services offered in most radiology centres worldwide.
As most hospitals in Kenya have been equipped with at least a CT scan machine, amongst
many other radiological services offered, it is often the expertise that is often the drawback in
these facilities. Teleradiology has the potential to mitigate the problem of unavailability of
radiologists in most hospitals by providing access to radiologist’s services remotely.
Broad Objectives: This study assessed the prevalence of Teleradiology currently being
practised in Kenya and investigated the practice and attitude of radiologists and radiology
residents towards Teleradiology.
Study Design and Population: A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out. The study
targeted a population of all registered radiologists in Kenya and radiology residence
undertaking their studies in Kenya.
Methodology: A structured questionnaire was used to interview participants and capture
primary data. The questionnaire begun by requesting consent from the respondents, followed
by giving a brief introduction to Teleradiology and the definition of a few technical terms that
were used to aid respondents understanding of the concept of Teleradiology. The questionnaire
was divided into three sections. The first section covered the demographic information of the
participants. Section B was made up of questions on the current scope of Teleradiology being
practised by the participants. The last section, C, was made up of questions on the opinion
towards Teleradiology by the participants. The data was analysed using IBM SPSS (version
26).
Results: A significant number of participants had adopted the use of teleradiology in their
institutions (n=100, 79%). With regards practice of teleradiology, it was slightly high in
radiologists, compared to residents, 81.8% by radiologists, compared to 76.2% by residents.
There was a strong relationship between the availability of PACS and practice of teleradiology.
87% of institutions with PACS were practising teleradiology, with a P value of 0.0001, which
was statistically significant. The laptop was the commonest device used for reporting when
carrying out teleradiology services. Majority of the participants, 77.3% indicated that
insourcing teleradiology had a positive impact to their radiology departments. Both
radiologists and residents gave varying opinions on their professional bodies supporting
teleradiology. Forty percent of radiologists said no, their professional bodies does not support
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teleradiology, whereas 28% answered yes and 32% indicated they did not know. Almost all the
radiologists and residents had no knowledge of existing guidelines, with regards to
teleradiology, with 98% residents and 95% of radiologists indicating there were not aware of
any regulations. There were several perceived advantages of teleradiology by participants,
including greater efficiency, improved distribution of workload and making easier for teaching.
Disadvantages of teleradiology highlighted included teleradiology being too impersonal and
insufficient communication with clinicians.
Conclusion: The results from this study revealed that many radiology practices across Kenya
have integrated teleradiology in their day-to-day activities. Radiology practices is urban and
rural areas were using teleradiology, and both residents and consultant radiologists were
practicing teleradiology. There were a lot of perceived advantages and disadvantages of
teleradiology.
Recommendations: Involvement of administrators and regulators of both KAR and KMPDC
to assess their opinion of teleradiology, and their views regarding regulations in teleradiology
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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