New donor funded Ultrasound Machines improve patient care
Three new donor funded ultrasound machines arrived at the Hospital in the summer of 2016 and their impact on improved patient care was immediate.
Mark Lovallo, GGH’s Ultrasound Charge Technologist, explained that it is the advanced image quality of these new state-of-the-art ultrasound machines that results in the many patient care improvements:
- Improved patient wait times because our entire fleet of ultrasound machines are now suitable for any diagnostic imaging procedure, where before a technologist might need to wait for a specific machine to be available.
- Exams take less time because the technologist is able to get the image they need more easily; quicker exams are simply more comfortable for patients and improve their overall experience.
- Because the exams are quicker, the technologist can see more patients in the same amount of time.
- There are fewer recalls where the patient needs to come back for a repeat exam due to greater accuracy and confidence in diagnosis.
- Ultrasound guided medical procedures including biopsy and drainage are also performed more quickly and accurately because the physician has improved visibility.
The most notable impact though is a new service that these machines have brought to the community: The Hospital’s new Breast Assessment Clinic was made possible through many of the outcomes described above.
The Breast Assessment Clinic was designed to significantly reduce the amount of time a woman spends waiting to know whether or not she has breast cancer. The clinic takes place every Wednesday and in one day, a woman can receive a mammogram, an ultrasound and a biopsy, and within a week later can have news of the results.
“This is about improving our patient’s experience by significantly reducing their time spent wondering whether or not they have cancer,” explained Dr. Samir Patel, GGH’s Chief of Diagnostic Imaging.
Bringing these ultrasound machines to the Hospital was a true community effort. One machine was funded by literally hundreds of kind donations in response to our mail program and through community participation at our Fore Our Hospital and Tour de Guelph events. The second was funded by Circle of Life members and the third by a single family from within our community.
