The key challenge faced in emergency teleradiology is the lack of comprehensive and accurate medical data. The clinical details offered most often is in the form of sudden trauma or abdominal pain and without any reference to the particular nature or location of the trauma or pain. Also, there is no information on the related symptoms, laboratory outcomes, relevant medical examination or surgical history.
Scan interpretation without the accessibility of accurate clinical data is not in the interest of enhanced patient care. But the challenge is just momentary as HL7 (health level 7) interfaces have given permission to extract relevant data from the HIE (hospital information system) and the access for the same would be given to a radiologist who would do the interpretations on the RIS (Radiology Information System). However, this problem will soon be resolved.
The development of large imaging data sets especially in the era of high-resolution MRI and CR and ultra-thin section makes it more challenging in emergency teleradiology. When the scan takes more time for transmission due to file size being large, it does affect the reporting time. But, the advancements like threading routers and the high bandwidth connectivity range largely helps in overcoming the challenges.