How teleradiology can drive innovative new treatments while helping with the workforce crisis
The healthcare sector is facing a serious shortage of skilled nuclear radiologists, jeopardizing timely cancer treatment and care. With only 53% of training programs full enrollment will require innovative solutions to address the workforce crisis.
Teleradiology can help because it allows nuclear radiologists to interpret scans remotely, increase flexibility in their work schedules and expand access to specialized expertise, says Dr. Mark Crockett, Chief Medical Officer at TeleDaaS, a provider of dosimetry-as-a-service. which is very similar to teleradiology.
Crockett believes this technology-driven approach will alleviate current workforce challenges and drive advancements in radiopharmaceuticals – ultimately leading to better patient care.
We interviewed Crockett to discuss the nuclear radiologist workforce crisis, how teleradiology can help combat the crisis, how teleradiology can fuel advances in radiopharmaceuticals, and the expected rise in the medical isotope market due to growth in targeted cancer treatment and imaging.
Q. Can you talk about the workforce crisis for nuclear radiologists? What are things looking like in hospitals and healthcare systems? What are the consequences of the crisis?
A. One reason for the workforce crisis is that demand has increased rapidly as new treatments become available, and the supply of physicians is not keeping pace. Nuclear medicine is a field that requires highly specialized and difficult training. Many physicians choose other related specialties, such as diagnostic radiology; they may cover part of nuclear medicine, but also provide a wide range of services.
The few physicians who receive training are often concentrated in academic centers, and rural health care systems struggle to find qualified nuclear medicine physicians to meet all their needs, which in turn leads to inequities in healthcare access to care.
In some geographic areas, patients have difficulty accessing nuclear medicine experts, complicating their ability to receive specialized treatments and diagnostic imaging. This could mean patients having to travel long distances or receive care without optimal dosing and monitoring.
This workforce shortage is a significant problem that limits patients’ ability to access the nuclear medicine services they need, especially for new targeted radiopharmaceutical therapies.
Q. How exactly can teleradiology help combat the workforce crisis? Clearly, it can increase access to skilled professionals many miles away. But what can technology do to strengthen the field?
A. Teleradiology allows nuclear medicine experts to read scans more efficiently and provide guidance remotely, allowing them to serve a larger geographic area than a single hospital.
Teleradiology gives smaller hospitals without dedicated nuclear medicine staff access to this specialized expertise. Radiologists can provide remote monitoring and dosing guidance. In addition, teleradiology allows nuclear medicine physicians to work more efficiently by assessing patients remotely when time is available, providing a consistent level of care over a wide area.
Teleradiology can make Nuclear medicine physicians can work more efficiently and expand their reach, which is crucial given the shortage of these specialized professionals.
By enabling remote review of scans and dosimetry, teleradiology ensures that patients receive ideal monitoring and guidance from nuclear medicine experts, even in hospitals where there is no nuclear medicine doctor on site. This helps strengthen the field of nuclear radiology by expanding access to quality care.
Q. You believe that teleradiology can advance advances in radiopharmaceuticals. Describe radiopharmaceuticals and explain what advances you see in the field of teleradiology.
A. Radiopharmaceuticals deliver radiation directly to cancer cells by binding to specific proteins on their surfaces, allowing targeted treatment. Many of the treatments that work this way are extremely new, and excitement about their impact is growing as new research emerges.
The use of dosimetry with these agents is controversial. Many of them have a standard dose that they are approved for, and officially that is how they are dosed. But there is important research showing that individual patients can safely receive more doses, and that some patients are already at risk on the standard dose.
This has led scientific organizations to propose that all patients receive dosimetry as part of their care. Using these new tools in this way will require a new way of expanding the number of nuclear medicine physicians if we want to treat patients with personalized care in the US, not to mention around the world.
Teleradiology can also drive advances in radiopharmaceuticals by creating a new level of data describing dose and patient outcomes. Allowing nuclear medicine experts to remotely review scans and facilitate dosimetry will generate more data and potentially allow us to see more clearly which patients benefit from a particular dosing approach. This comprehensive data is essential for improving health outcomes, allowing more patients to benefit from treatment.
Q. You also point to the expected rise in the medical isotope market, driven by the growth of targeted cancer treatment and imaging. You say there is a significant opportunity for teleradiology to address workforce shortages in this area. Please provide some more information.
A. The projected multi-billion dollar market growth for medical isotopes is driven by the growth of targeted radiopharmaceutical cancer treatments and new indications. Currently the approach is limited to a few cancers and pathogens, but many more are being studied and will undoubtedly gain approval.
This will undoubtedly pose significant challenges to the workforce, which teleradiology can help address. Currently, there are not enough nuclear medicine physicians to provide the level of service needed to deliver these new therapies across the country. Teleradiology allows existing specialists to expand their reach, providing care to more patients.
It may be that many smaller hospitals lack this type of expertise in nuclear medicine; teleradiology allows them to treat with the new tools already here, not to mention those to come.
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