Mobile X-ray service for nursing homes

Abstract

Background: Transport to a radiology department can be a strain on nursing home patients, leading to less use of diagnostic imaging. The purpose of this study was to examine the use and benefit of a mobile X-ray service that enables imaging at nursing homes.

Material and method: In connection with 300 of a total of 326 referrals to a mobile X-ray service in Vestfold County in the period March to September 2015, 66 doctors at 33 nursing homes completed a questionnaire on the options patients would have had in the absence of the mobile service. A hundred of these referrals were followed up one to two weeks later with a further questionnaire on the implications of the X-ray scan for diagnosis, treatment and nursing. Eighty-seven questionnaires were completed.

Results: In 219 cases (73 %), the patients would have been sent to a hospital radiology department if the mobile X-ray service had not been available. In 60 cases (20 %) the patients would not have had an X-ray examination. In the follow-up, doctors answered that the X-rays had yielded new diagnostic information in 81 cases (95 %), that 71 (83 %) of the X-ray results had had implications for further treatment and that 29 (34 %) had helped patients avoid hospitalisation. In 77 cases (89 %), the X-rays enabled important information to be given to patients and their families.

Conclusion: A mobile X-ray service makes it possible to avoid transports that place a strain on patients and to provide necessary diagnoses for patients who would not otherwise have been examined.