Ownership

Excerpt

Whatever happened to the pride of ownership? You know – being proud of taking responsibility for a child’s care and having the best outcome possible. In radiology, there are rules of communication, that is, situations where you must call the referring physician for critical values – the more severe or new conditions that the referring physician may not expect. In general, these rules were put in place because patients were getting lost in the bureaucracy. Too often, no one took responsibility for making sure an ordered test was completed or for following up on an abnormal result. Radiologists are consultants and help referring physicians decide what to order and when to order it. When we reach a negotiated settlement on the necessary imaging, whose responsibility is it to make sure it gets done in a timely manner? I maintain that we must take joint ownership of that. The order is placed, the time slot is secured and the exam must get done. With kids, this is a problem because a no-show or delayed appointment because of a parent who cannot or will not navigate through the system hurts the child. It is a no-brainer to say that these are quality-of-care issues. If we are consultants, we should follow up with the referring physician concerning the results. …