With the rising costs of healthcare, there is an increasing interest in autonomous imaging in which patients undergo examinations with less or even without technician support. To realise this vision not only will machines need to be more intelligent but also will patients need better instructions so that they know what is expected from them.
In this project, we focussed on the preparation of patients for chest X-ray examinations, as these are the most commonly administered diagnostic X-ray. Compared to other imaging modalities such as CT and MRI, X-ray exams are short, typically in the order of minutes. With many examinations per day, even small reductions in examination time quickly add up and help to improve patient throughput.
An analysis of the workflow showed that a large part of a chest X-ray is taken up by the technician helping the patient to adopt the right posture. Furthermore, an exam may be delayed unnecessarily if the user wears clothing or personal accessories which cause imaging artefacts. This may require the patient to take off clothing or accessories or even go back to the changing room, all of which takes time. From a patient experience perspective, being ‘manhandled’ to adopt the correct posture may feel uncomfortable. Having to undress because one’s clothing is not ‘X-ray compatible’ can feel uncomfortable too.
In this concept, we use the waiting time in the changing room to provide the patient with just-in-time education about the forthcoming exam. A virtual nurse talks the patient step-by-step through the procedure. The door between changing room and exam room is used as a display surface which creates the illusion for the patient that she can look through this door into the exam room. A virtual avatar shows the patient where she will need to go in the exam room and how to adopt the right posture in front of the wallstand.
