A Beacon of Light - RADIOLOGiQ
Every morning, the halls of the VA hospital, Los Angeles fill with people. Doctors, nurses and supporting staff head to their departments.
Some make a stop at the coffee shop and grab a latte, while others get something more substantial to eat - - And half a world away, in Zimbabwe, a doctor uses an app on his phone.
With a few taps on the screen, he brings up the latest information so he can make the right decision in treating his patients.
The apps were developed by two innovative VA physicians who have voluntarily taken it upon themselves to create RADIOLOGiQ - a free suite of medical iPhone and iPad apps used by doctors and healthcare professionals around the world.
These apps assist health care providers with decision making on what to do next during the interpretation of X-rays and CT scans. The efforts of these two physicians extend from our VA medical center to every continent. What inspired them to develop the apps?
“Not only did we want to help patients at our hospital, but we wanted to help doctors and patients all around the world,” said Dr. Ahmed El-Sherief, a thoracic radiologist here since 2014.
“We realized that if we could figure out a way to package medical tools as mobile apps, we could help health care providers take better care of their patients,” said Dr. Charles Lau, a thoracic radiologist who recently jointed our hospital from VA Palo Alto.
Their medical mobile apps are free to the global medical community.
The apps have been used over 1.25 million times by more than 370,000 physicians and nurses worldwide.
The Need for Correct Information
Cancer in general spreads through the lymph nodes, particularly lung cancer which kills more people than any other cancer. Lymph nodes are like the garbagemen of our bodies.
When a lymph node gets big, doctors begin to suspect that the lymph node may have collected cancerous cells.
It’s crucial to name the lymph nodes correctly because it can influence treatment and prognosis. If a lymph node is misnamed, it’s like giving the wrong address.
A few years ago, Dr. El-Sherief and Dr. Lau were examining scans and reports and realized that some doctors misnamed the lymph nodes. That was because they were not using the most up-to-date medical guidance. Dr. El-Sherief and Dr. Lau began to explore why.
What was Missing?
Unfortunately, healthcare providers can find it difficult to simultaneously stay on top of every current medical guideline while taking care of all their patients in a busy practice. In addition, the number of guidelines grows every year and are hard to remember.
Drs. Lau and El-Sherief concluded that there needed to be a better way to share the latest medical guidelines. So, they created RADIOLOGiQ to help standardize the interpretation of medical images.
These medical apps would “provide evidence-based decision making, increase consistency of clinical care, and reduce healthcare costs,” said Lau. Today, the RADIOLOGiQ apps help providers manage abnormal lymph nodes in lung cancer patients. They help manage lung nodules discovered on CTs and help manage unexpected findings not only in the lungs but also in the neck, chest, and abdomen.
Something Simple for a Complex Subject
“Often, medical subspeciality groups come together to create guidelines and pathways for handling various medical imaging findings,” explained Lau. “The challenge is that these guidelines are usually very complex to follow, tough to memorize, and change frequently.”
It is practically impossible to keep up to date with these guidelines, El-Sherief and Lau explained. Creating a set of apps to be used on the phone or tablet anywhere, any time is ideal for solving this challenge. Any doctor around the world can download the free apps and use them. However, creating a mobile app can be time-consuming and require a great amount of computer programming experience. Fortunately, Lau and El-Sherief had already acquired these skills before they became physicians.
Quick, Easy and the People Who Use It
Lau and El-Sherief carefully tack-led the process of packaging intricate medical guidelines into simple and easy-to-use tools. “With an app, a medical provider can have access to the most up-to-date guidelines with only a few finger taps,” said El-Sherief.
Medical imaging is something that touches every patient. Whether it's a chest X-ray, CT, or an ultrasound, many medical providers depend on imaging exams for patient care. RADIOLOGiQ’s tools help prevent mistakes that can affect patients’ lives.
“For example, in a lung cancer screening, you have a radiologist who reviews the CT scan and then provides a recommendation. The results are then read by a screening nurse navigator, who refers it to physician who determines what to do next. All these individuals I have been told, use our app,” said El-Sherief.
“The apps we developed are free and accessible to all, ensuring the latest information is available to as many medical providers as possible,” pointed Lau. “I think one of the things that we benefit from is that mobile technology exploded in the last 15 to 20 years, which helps do the work for us.”
At the VA, We Can
When asked about their work in the VA, Dr. Lau and Dr. El-Sherief proudly shared with me that the VA provides them an opportunity to do what they are passionate about.
“We are passionate about serving our Veterans. We are passionate about teaching the next generation of physicians. And we are passionate about creating innovative impactful solutions for the healthcare community around the world.”