Understanding Emergency Department Imaging Superusers
Tarek Hanna, MD, an associate professor specializing in emergency and trauma imaging, is concerned about emergency department imaging superusers: people who undergo a disproportionate number of imaging exams over multiple visits for reasons other than traumatic injury. Trying to identify such patients in datasets is a challenge, especially in hospital systems with a Level 1 trauma center like Emory. Enter Michal Horný, PhD, assistant professor and a health economist by training. Dr. Horný suggested applying the same technique used to measure the productivity of academic researchers: the h-index.
The superuser h-index considers the number of imaging studies over the number of visits, with kinds of imaging studies weighted by complexity or difficulty. The h-index score quantifies patient-level utilization of ED imaging to more precisely identify superusers, which then leads to understanding the factors associated with superuser status and, most importantly, to developing interventions that help people receive appropriate care in non-emergency settings.
“Adding Michal to the team was profound because he has the economics and statistics expertise we needed,” says Richard Duszak, Jr., MD, vice chair for policy and practice, and a member of the research team along with radiologists Amanda Chahine, MD, Matthew Zygmont, MD, and Keith Herr, MD.
The superuser h-index considers the number of imaging studies over the number of visits, with kinds of imaging studies weighted by complexity or difficulty. The h-index score quantifies patient-level utilization of ED imaging to more precisely identify superusers, which then leads to understanding the factors associated with superuser status and, most importantly, to developing interventions that help people receive appropriate care in non-emergency settings.
“Adding Michal to the team was profound because he has the economics and statistics expertise we needed,” says Richard Duszak, Jr., MD, vice chair for policy and practice, and a member of the research team along with radiologists Amanda Chahine, MD, Matthew Zygmont, MD, and Keith Herr, MD.