Teleradiology is an enabler, a potent force of change in healthcare delivery. In the course of the last few months, I have had several speaking opportunities on the subject.
The first this year was at the IRIA annual meeting held earlier this year in Ahmedabad. My talk entitled “Teleradiology in todays era” began way past its scheduled time, as tends to happen at National Conferences. However the fringe benefit was that I had a full audience when I started to speak (I recall an earlier National conference two years ago where they assigned a small room for the Teleradiology session. The room was so packed to overflowing that when I tried to enter I was told “No space!” by people who hadn’t even turned to look at me. I had to yell above the din – “ I am the speaker” whereupon the crowd realized my identity and parted to let me through – clearly a lot of interest in the subject!)
This time, I attempted to keep my talk conversational and practical, rather than pedagogic and heavy and highlighted the benefits of teleradiology to radiologists in India. The main value of teleradiology for radiologists in India, as I see it, is to raise the bar in terms of both reporting quality and speed, as it has already done in the US. I focused on how efficiencies in clinical practice can result in competitive advantage and increased physician referral. Each time I speak at this conference, I see greater interest and more curiosity, and a more discerning audience.
Chairing the session was the Associate Editor of the Indian Journal of Radiology, Dr Indrajit, himself an authority on informatics. He has been asking me to start an Indian Teleradiology Society and I have been resisting. The reason is that I am not sure that I want to be the spokesperson for all of Indian Teleradiology. That imposes a significant burden.
The second talk was at the launch of Radspa, our tech division’s lovely and versatile new technology platform. This was a fun talk to give as it was on the importance of technology in the wellbeing of a radiologist (or as I titled it “Why the radiologist needs a Spa”). An efficient technology can greatly enhance the quality of all our lives (think Iaptop or Iphone) and in like manner a workflow platform like Radspa can truly make the workday of a radiologist that much more pleasant and productive.
The third talk was not specifically on teleradiology but rather on entrepreneurship, delivered to a group of 40 of the senior GE leadership, largely from the US. Held at a sparkling new hotel in the center of Bangalore, it gave me an opportunity to expound on how exciting it is to be an entrepreneur in India today to a bright, thoughtful and extremely articulate group of executives, some of whom later came to us for an on-site visit. I told them our story, starting from the home office, and including the epiphanic “Get out of here” moment when an ER physician in Pennsylvania whom I was speaking with refused to believe that I could possibly be calling from India. As a memento, I was presented a very nice medallion embossed with a picture of GE’s Crotonville training center. I told the GE group about our our own little Crotonville, which we call Radgurukul, which is a state of the art auditorium with videoconferencing capabilities, that allows us to tap into an international faculty when conducting CME programs.