Open AccessImpact of the COVID-19 pandemic on radiologists
Author(s) -
Ganesh Hegde,
Christine Azzopardi,
Patrick Hurley,
Harun Gupta,
Naga Varaprasad Vemuri,
Steven James,
Rajesh Botchu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
indian journal of medical sciences/indian journal of medical sciences (print)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1998-3654
pISSN - 0019-5359
DOI - 10.25259/ijms_271_2020
Subject(s) - pandemic , workload , personal protective equipment , medicine , covid-19 , work (physics) , workflow , medical education , medical emergency , family medicine , nursing , radiology , pathology , disease , management , mechanical engineering , infectious disease (medical specialty) , engineering , economics
COVID-19 pandemic is one of the biggest crises faced by health-care systems in the recent times. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on radiology workflow, working pattern, training and continuing professional development (CPD) activities, as well as personal well-being of the radiologists during the pandemic. Material and Methods: Questionnaire designed to gather the opinions regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was distributed to radiologists throughout the world in electronic format. Anonymized responses were obtained and analyzed. Two hundred radiologists, working in 17 different countries, responded to our questionnaire. Majority of the respondents were from India (72.8%) and 70% of the them were in the age group of 25–45 years. About 80% of respondents felt that they were well protected or moderately well protected in terms of the personal protective equipment (PPE), however, most of them felt that the use of PPE had affected their ability to work. Similar number of radiologists felt that there was significant reduction in the radiology workload. More than half of the respondents felt that their working patterns were altered by the pandemic with drastic impact on teaching, CPD activities, and personal well-being. COVID-19 pandemic has had profound impact on the radiologists all over the world. Learning from the experiences of the first wave should be used to provide innovative solutions to some of the challenges posed to provide better radiology services, training, and improve the well-being of radiologists if we encounter a similar situation in the future. COVID-19 pandemic had significant impact on radiologists. Radiologists felt that they were well or moderately well protected with PPEs; however, PPEs affected their ability to work. Radiology workflow was significantly reduced in the pandemic with more radiologists working from home. COVID-19 pandemic had deleterious effect on radiologist’s well-being, education, and CPD activities.