In the medical equipment manufacturing space, proprietary information is powerful. The investments required to bring a life-saving technology to market are often measured in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, and the opportunity to profit from those investments isn’t always guaranteed in a free-market economy, or at least, not for long.
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Across the medical imaging industry landscape, healthcare institutions are managing around recruitment and retention concerns that include a shortage of professionals across positions, lengthy times to get them prepared for those roles, and increased volumes of imaging studies that must be performed, read, and maintained in the delivery of high-quality patient care.
The conventional wisdom associated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is that it’s a safer imaging modality than computed tomography (CT) or X-ray because it doesn’t rely on exposing human tissue to ionizing radiation. However, that doesn’t mean that MRI is a completely benign modality, or that there aren’t safety concerns and contraindications for patients prescribed an MR study.
Portable ultrasound technology, which sprang from a U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) challenge grant for the development of a diagnostic technology that could reach soldiers in the battlefield during combat, led to the creation of the first widely produced portable ultrasound device, the Sonosite 180.
When Keith Hall joined the U.S. Army in 1999, he was a 19-year-old searching for opportunities that could help him find a stable career.
In a February 2022 whitepaper, the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) described “a perfect storm” of factors contributing to a labor shortfall in the medical imaging and radiation therapy professions.
For all the complexities associated with working in the radiology space, the business of administrative duties can often be a secondary consideration to operational needs.
The relationship between an imaging director and a service technician can vary greatly from site to site, and institution to institution.
Diversity in leadership remains a persistent and widespread challenge in the medical imaging space.
Since the earliest medical applications harnessing the power of X-rays, the diagnostic imaging space has ever expanded with the emergence of new technologies, new applications of existing technologies, and the systems and people that support their interoperability.
