“For me, the benefit is all about freeing up time that I can spend talking to the patients and calm them down if needed. It makes a better scanning experience for everyone involved.”
Skaraborg Hospital is a regional hospital in Sweden with 500 care places and 4,500 employees serving 250,000 inhabitants. Radiographer Anneli Gustafsson has been working with GE HealthCare’s Revolution Ascend CT scanner for just over a year and is very satisfied. It not only provides efficiency and better images, but also allows time to spend with patients enabling her to have quality dialogue with the patients.
“Our experience is that the scanner is easy to get started and to use. In the beginning, we had a specialist from GE HealthCare to show us how to handle the different scanning protocols, how to adjust them, etc. But as it turned out, we are able to learn and do most of it ourselves without any problems. The functions are intuitive and logical, and it is easy to adjust the protocols so that they fit exactly to our needs. Of course, it also helps that we are used to working with scanners from GE HealthCare,” explains Anneli Gustafsson. Anneli is an experienced radiographer with over ten years’ experience in the hospital’s radiology department.
On a typical day, Anneli and her colleagues have three CT-scanning sessions booked per hour on the Revolution Ascend scanner between 7am and 4pm, the majority of protocols involve imaging of the brain, thorax, and colon but they also perform more complex procedures such as thorax-biopsies.
“The functions are intuitive and logical, and it is easy to adjust the protocols so that they fit exactly to our needs.”
Anneli Gustafsson, Radiographer, Skaraborg Hospital
66 percent reduction in clicks for a more effortless workflow
Skaraborg Hospital was the first hospital in Sweden to install the Revolution Ascend. This CT scanner provides a 94% auto-centering accuracy (within +/- 2 cm)1, a 91% image noise reduction by ASiR-V and TrueFidelity™ image technology (compared to FBP at the same dose depending upon the scan technique and reconstruction parameters)2, as well as an overall 66% reduction in clicks for a faster and more effortless workflow3.
“I still control the auto-positioning to ensure it is correct, but it almost always is, and sometimes it actually feels like the machine is doing most of my work. In the afternoon, we have often booked scanning sessions where we do not use contrast, and here it is definitely a relief for me that I can just walk in to the patient and press a button – roughly speaking – and then the machine does the rest itself. It’s very simple and it feels safe and very luxurious,” says Anneli with a smile.
"It is definitely a relief for me that I can just walk in to the patient and press a button - roughly speaking - and then the machine does the rest itself. It's very simple and it feels safe and very luxurious."
Anneli Gustafsson, Radiographer, Skaraborg Hospital
Radiographer Anneli Gustafsson at Skaraborg Hospital with their Revolution Ascend CT scanner with Effortless Workflow, which among others is freeing up time that she can spend talking to the patients and calm them down if needed.
Improved patient contact
“The auto-positioning function saves time, and it doesn’t take long to scan a patient. Provided the patient is able walk into the scanner and lie down without help the scan take takes only a few minutes, including repro-processing of the images. For me, the benefit is more about freeing up time that I can spend talking to the patients and calm them down if needed. It makes a better scanning process for everyone involved.”
“To ensure an optimal patient experience we almost always carry out the scan while standing next to the scanner, together with the patient. We have the option of controlling everything from the control room, but we don’t really use that. Perhaps this function is a result of the Corona pandemic, to protect the technologist from contamination but today we don’t necessarily use it.”
“TrueFidelity works really well. The function creates superfine images and ensures that everything becomes much sharper without having to give the patients a lot of radiation.”
Anneli Gustafsson, Radiographer, Skaraborg Hospital
Clear CT images with TrueFidelity
Another advantage of working with Revolution Ascend, highlighted by Anneli, is the TrueFidelity technology. TrueFidelity reduces noise and clutter in the images noticeably without compromising the level of detail. GE HealthCare’s Deep Learning Image Reconstruction engine makes it possible to create images with detail, contrast, texture and clarity by using artificial intelligence to combine the low dose of iterative reconstruction with the “classic-looking” image texture of filtered back projection.
Learn more about Revolution Ascend CT scanner.
Learn more about Effortless Workflow.
Skåne University Hospital do not have any contractual relationship beyond the fact of being end user of a GE HealthCare medical device.
References
1. Measured centering accuracy which was scanned 921 standard routine exams in head and body with Auto positioning in three institutions using a pilot product. Revolution Ascend Customer Presentation JB16626XX
2. Revolution Ascend Customer Presentation JB16626XX
3. The required clicks are defined as clicks required to execute a scan from selecting a new patient till start scan. All associated clicks for and in clinical practice, number of the required clicks may vary depending on the circumstances, including but not limited to, the clinical task, exam type, clinical practice, and image reconstruction technique. Revolution Ascend Customer Presentation JB16626XX
